On this day 38 years ago the Concorde made its first trans-Atlantic journey from Washington DC to Paris in 3 hours 32 minutes, slashing the previous record for an airliner by 50% and averaging a speed of 1,535 km/h (which is faster than the speed of sound, 1224 km/h). The Concorde was a substantial innovation in the field of aviation, promising to usher in a new era of faster-than-sound global travel.
However, more than two years would elapse before commercial services on the Concorde began, and it was another three years before US aviation authorities would allow the planes to land at US airports. Concorde planes were extremely expensive to build and maintain, and they often run at a loss although fares charged for flying on them were high. Concordes operates safely until July 2000 when one crashed after a tyre burst during take-off. It was concluded that the planes were unsafe, and they were retired from service.
There has been very little innovation in the field of aviation and aerospace in the past 40 years. Most of the commercial aircraft used today are based on technologies and structures developed more than 40 years ago. No humans have visited the moon since December 1972. There are no faster-than-sound commercial passenger transport services in operation, and the promise of fast air travel remains a distant dream.