Into the supersonic transport era

THE next decade will sec without doubt the use of supersonic transports in commercial operation. Concorde will be the first SST aircraft in the Western world to enter service and should have a healthy lead of five years over the American Boeing 2707–300. Although the Russian Tu‐144 is quite likely to claim the honours for the first commercial SST flight, it is improbable that it will be successful in penetrating Western markets and once Concorde enters service few of the major airlines with suitable route structures will be able to wait for the U.S. SST before introducing supersonic services on their routes. Although the investment of public money in Concorde is huge and may well be never fully recovered, it has the tremendous asset of being way out in front of the field and the experience that it will generate should make the Super Concorde a potent rival to the Boeing 2707–300.