Concorde

Joined
Mar 18, 2021
Messages
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Apparently, it's due to grace our skies once again in as a little as a handful of months!

The only known picture of Concorde in mid-flight, taken by an RAF fighter pilot:

Screenshot 2025-07-14 at 21.04.26.png
 
I always thought Concorde was a beautiful aircraft. The design was simple and elegant.
She used to fly overhead of our London house - we'd go outside and watch it. Silly, I know, but we were fascinated by it. Even considering the accidents in the final few months of her operation, she remains one of the safest passenger aircraft ever to grace our skies.
 

Concorde last flew in 2003 and then the remaining aircraft were all retired. The laws of physics haven't changed and the flying that fast burns a LOT of fuel. I assume you are referring to this where the next generation of supersonic aircraft is mentioned. I don't think it would be practical to bring back the original plane after being idle for over 22 years. The article title is misleading as the original Concorde is NOT making a comeback. Supersonic passenger flight is really what is being proposed with a newly designed aircraft.

https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/07/07/concorde-is-set-to-make-a-comeback-in-2026/

If the plane is still in development, likely they are being optimistic about when it will actually go into passenger service. Often these types of companies make overly enthusiastic promises and then find the reality of actually building production aircraft is a LOT more complicated than they originally thought, in addition to all of the technical challenges associated with supersonic flight.

A company in the US is also talking of building a supersonic aircraft but hasn't found any company willing to sign on to develop the engines. They claim they will do this on their own but would be an ENORMOUS challenge. I don't think they have ever mentioned when they expect their planes will go into service.

Neither Boeing nor Airbus as far as I know have any current effort underway relating to supersonic aircraft and clearly they have a LOT of technical expertise in building passenger aircraft. That expertise takes YEARS to develop.
 
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Concorde last flew in 2003 and then the remaining aircraft were all retired. The laws of physics haven't changed and the flying that fast burns a LOT of fuel. I assume you are referring to this where the next generation of supersonic aircraft is mentioned. I don't think it would be practical to bring back the original plane after being idle for over 22 years. The article title is misleading as the original Concorde is NOT making a comeback. Supersonic passenger flight is really what is being proposed with a newly designed aircraft.

https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/07/07/concorde-is-set-to-make-a-comeback-in-2026/

If the plane is still in development, likely they are being optimistic about when it will actually go into passenger service. Often these types of companies make overly enthusiastic promises and then find the reality of actually building production aircraft is a LOT more complicated than they originally thought, in addition to all of the technical challenges associated with supersonic flight.

A company in the US is also talking of building a supersonic aircraft but hasn't found any company willing to sign on to develop the engines. They claim they will do this on their own but would be an ENORMOUS challenge. I don't think they have ever mentioned when they expect their planes will go into service.

Neither Boeing nor Airbus as far as I know have any current effort underway relating to supersonic aircraft and clearly they have a LOT of technical expertise in building passenger aircraft. That expertise takes YEARS to develop.
It's "Concorde 2", basically the same aircraft with better building materials and more optimised scram jets. It'll be in our skies, if all goes to plan, in early 2026.
 
If it isn't currently in production, there is no way it will be carrying passengers anytime in 2026. It takes YEARS to design/develop/test and get a passenger aircraft certified for passenger service. No such scram jet engine currently exists and the concept has only been tested by a few countries on an experimental basis. If the proposed engines don't even exist, any talk of being in passenger service by 2026 are more wishful thinking than reality.

https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/what-is-a-scramjet-engine.html

1752577910606.png
 
Yes, in order to really use scramjets, you need rocket assist to get you up to Mach 5 where they can take over. That would be a bit dangerous for a commercial aircraft, though I could see it for military.
 
Yes, in order to really use scramjets, you need rocket assist to get you up to Mach 5 where they can take over. That would be a bit dangerous for a commercial aircraft, though I could see it for military.
Probably not "scram jets" then. But they are saying in the second quarter of 2026, perhaps even sooner.
 

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