Why is concorde no longer flying

Two development aircraft built for testing, numbers and , can be seen at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, and the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge. Branson later wrote that Virgin Atlantic had wanted to run the fleet for many years to come, but no agreement was reached.

Earlier this year it was announced that Club Concorde has raised the funds to purchase and restore a Concorde aircraft with the aim of returning it to service by , to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the aircraft's inaugural test flight. In Sir Richard Branson announced plans to launch a new supersonic passenger jet dubbed Concorde II , which it is claimed will be able to speed from London to New York in just three-and-a-half hours.

Find out all about it here. The most glamorous and exclusive of aircraft, it ferried well-heeled passengers tickets cost around 30 times the standard fare for the era between New York and either London or Paris in just three-and-a-half hours. Although this all happened before the jet left the ground, it was too late to abort take-off, and the damaged engines were unable to give the airport enough momentum to gain altitude or speed.

After a sudden descent, Concorde crashed into a hotel in the Parisian suburb of Gonesse after just two minutes, with the crew attempting to divert to nearby Paris-Le Bourget airport. All passengers were killed, as well as the nine crew members on board and four people on the ground. Over a decade after the tragedy, Continental Airlines, whose aircraft supplied the debris, and John Taylor, the mechanic responsible for the crucial metal strip, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

However, the conviction was overturned after less than two years. The final Concorde departed three years after an Air France Concorde flight crashed into a hotel shortly after take-off from Paris - claiming the lives of people on board and a further four people on the ground in Those savings could make it possible for United to offer both premium and economy seating - although no final decision has been made about cabin layouts, Mr Leskinen said.

The seat plane will be the first supersonic airliner to have zero carbon emissions by running on "pure sustainable aviation fuel", United said. Flight trials are scheduled to begin in , in the hope passengers will be carried on commercial flights in The company has declined to discuss any financial details however an executive said a deposit had been put down.

United chief executive, Scott Kirby, said: "United continues on its trajectory to build a more innovative, sustainable airline and today's advancements in technology are making it more viable for that to include supersonic planes. A turbofan engine, meanwhile, derives most of its thrust from the amount of the air it accelerates with its fan blades. The amount of this air defines the engine's "bypass ratio". Higher bypass ratio turbofan engines are more fuel efficient than turbojets.

Their lower exhaust speed makes them quieter, but they tend to be larger, resulting in higher drag at supersonic speeds. This drag penalty has outweighed the efficiency of turbofans for prolonged supersonic flight in the past. A good compromise might be a low bypass turbofan with an afterburner, which injects additional fuel to significantly increase the available thrust, and is commonly used on military jets.

Such an engine was used in early production versions of another supersonic passenger jet, the Russian Tupelov Tu, but was too inefficient because it needed to keep firing its afterburners to maintain supersonic cruise.

The Tu's afterburner also contributed to a very noisy cabin, humming loudly at 90 decibels -- roughly the sound generated by a hairdryer -- which exceeds regulatory safety limits. The Concorde's turbojets, meanwhile, only needed afterburners at take-off and to break through the sound barrier, improving its fuel economy and lowering cabin noise while supercruising. Supersonic jet noise. Due to the noise they generate, supersonic jets aren't allowed to fly over land. But these restrictions could be lifted with refined aerodynamic design.