Which was the first passenger supersonic aircraft put into service?

A supersonic transport aircraft (SST) is a civilian supersonic aircraft. It is designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. Only two supersonic aircrafts are known till date. These are Concorde and Tupolev Tu-144.

Concorde is a British-French supersonic passenger jet airliner, which was operated till 2003. It had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound with seating capacity of 92 to 128 passengers. It had first flown in March 1969 on trial. Later it had entered service in January 1976 and thereafter, had retired in the year 2003.

Tupolev Tu-144 is another name of supersonic passenger jet airliner. Its design was a product of the Tupolev design bureau, headed by Alexei Tupolev of the Soviet Union and manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production in Voronezh, Russia. It had conducted 55 passenger service flights. It had last flown in 1994 by NASA.

The prototype had first flown on 31 December 1968 near Moscow, two months before the first fight of the Concorde. This aircraft was introduced into passenger service on 1 November 1977, almost two years after Concorde. In 2016, NASA announced that they had signed a contract for the design of a modern low-noise SST prototype. The designing team is led by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Several companies had proposed to bring back supersonic business jet again.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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46 Comments

Gery Tillmanns

I disagree. The URL, second photo says the Tupelov was first to enter service. “The Tupolev Tu-144 was the first SST to enter service and the first to leave it. Only 55 passenger flights were carried out before service ended due to safety concerns. A small number of cargo and test flights were...,”

Merri Sillery

Wayne Reed, mikemerr, it was "put in to service" in 1977. It flew before the Concorde but wasn't put into service until a year after it.

Rich Davis

The TU144 was designed via plans stolen from Concord and earned the name Concordski. It was also a massive piece of junk.

Alan Waites

Gery Tillmanns, TU-144 was nick-named Concordski.

Spencer

I took it from Paris to NY. It was brilliant. travel is no longer what it used to be.

recote

I enjoyed watching the Concord take off and land at the air port in Moses Lake, WA. It did not run any commercial flights from there, but they were doing testing and flight training. Boeing and JAL also uses the air port for training and testing. The town only has a population of around 20,000. The air port is a retired USAF base and therefore has a very long runway.

Jenny Borsten

I should have known this answer,I saw the Concorde at the airport in Paris in the seventies.

dsneed

Unfortunately never got to ride in one but remember the fuss made about it and the fact that runways weren't long enough. Yay me.

Diane Lynn Kinsman

Knew that..

Sanjay Kumar

I too disagree. After searching on the internet it was found out that the Tupelov was first to enter service. “The Tupolev Tu-144 was the first SST to enter service and the first to leave it. Only 55 passenger flights were carried out before service ended due to safety concerns. A small number of cargo and test flights were...,”