Lessons from the Concorde Jet: Innovate and Disrupt

There’s flying, and then there’s jetting. Flying covers distance; jetting makes time question itself. Ever hear of the Concorde Jet? Of course you have. That bad boy was supersonic (i.e., faster than the speed of sound).

Supersonic status means 768 mph or faster. The Concorde could reach up to 1,350 mph. Imagine New York to Paris in 2:52:59. That’s faster than your Sunday afternoon nap, any one of The Lord of the Rings movies or an Ikea trip.

It was a passenger airliner in service 27 short years, from 1976–2003. Let’s talk about the real issues. For some reason when we book NY — Paris travel, we’re flying eight hours instead of jetting three. What happened?

Well, it all began under the fig tree in 1962. Britain and France decided to jointly develop and engineer a civil supersonic transport aircraft. They named the aircraft Concorde, which means agreement, harmony or union in both French and English. Thus was born the infamous Concorde Jet.

They named the aircraft Concorde, which means agreement, harmony or union in both French and English.

It was an engineering prodigy, its design and structure were revolutionary. The Concorde flew at 60,000 feet. You might be saying, “Cool story” but let’s give some context. Passengers could see the curvature of the Earth from that altitude, a sight previously beheld by only satellites and astronauts. Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

March 2, 1969 saw the first Concorde prototype to leave the hangar. Success. After rigorous testing and developments there were eventually 20 jets produced, 14 of which flew commercially. The concept was charmingly contemporary and garnered widespread public interest.

There were some initial concerns about the Concorde’s sonic boom, takeoff noise and air pollution, yet the aircraft spent nearly 30 years at the top of the world’s aircraft game. It wasn’t until an Air France Concorde crash in 2000 that the game changed entirely.

Between a tilt in the Concorde’s public regard and the air travel drop after September 11, 2001, the Concorde couldn’t hang. In 2003 British Airways conducted the Concorde’s farewell tour and jet setters worldwide held a moment of silence.

Takeaway? The Concorde was developed to innovate and disrupt. It blew the roof off the perceived limits of commercial air travel. Even if short, its reign took travelers to unimaginable heights — space travel for the civilian.

Faster, higher and sleeker than any of its counterparts, it had no competition whatsoever. In a class of its own, it created an extraordinary world in which the speed of sound was nothing but a number and space was nothing but a backdrop for the Concorde’s drooped nose and its Mach 2.0 wake.