Concorde: From 1962 Anglo-French Treaty to Final Flight in November 2003

Concorde's development began with separate British and French supersonic design studies in the 1950s, formalised on 29 November 1962 when the two governments signed a treaty creating a joint supersonic transport project. British Aircraft Corporation and Sud Aviation, later part of Aérospatiale, shared airframe development, combining Britain's BAC Type 223 work with France's Sud Aviation Super-Caravelle concept, while Rolls-Royce and Snecma jointly developed the Olympus 593 engine. The first prototype was presented at Toulouse on 11 December 1967, French prototype 001 made Concorde's first flight on 2 March 1969, and British prototype 002 flew from Filton on 9 April 1969.

Only 20 Concordes were completed, with fourteen entering airline service — seven with British Airways and seven with Air France — and six used for prototypes, testing and development. Airlines worldwide once held options for more than 70 aircraft, but most withdrew as operating costs became clearer and the 1973 oil crisis raised the importance of fuel efficiency, and no export customer ultimately took delivery. Scheduled passenger services began on 21 January 1976, with British Airways flying London to Bahrain and Air France operating Paris to Dakar and Rio de Janeiro; Washington Dulles flights began in May 1976, and New York JFK was added in November 1977 after legal and noise disputes. The London–New York or Paris–New York crossing took roughly three and a half hours near Mach 2 at approximately 50,000–60,000 feet, though sonic-boom restrictions over populated land limited the aircraft's viable route network.

On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 struck a metal strip on the runway during take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle, and the resulting fuel leak and fire caused the aircraft to crash at Gonesse, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground. The fleet was grounded while fuel-tank protection and stronger tyres were developed, and modified Concordes returned to commercial service on 7 November 2001. The 2003 retirement reflected reduced premium demand after the crash and the downturn following the September 2001 attacks, high maintenance costs, the absence of an active production line for replacement parts, and the difficulty of sustaining a fleet of only 12 airline aircraft; Air France ended operations on 31 May 2003, British Airways flew its last commercial flights on 24 October 2003, and the final Concorde movement was G-BOAF's flight from Heathrow to Filton on 26 November 2003.