Supersonic Aircraft

The Concorde supersonic transport had an ogival delta wing, a slender fuselage and four underslung Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engines.

A supersonic transport (SST) is a civil supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. The only SST to see regular service were Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. The last passenger flight of the Tu-144 was in June 1978, and Concorde's last flight was on November 26, 2003. The last regular passenger flights landed at Heathrow Airport on Friday, October 24, 2003 just past 4 p.m. - flight 002 from New York, one from Edinburgh, Scotland, and the third which had taken off from Heathrow on a loop flight over the Bay of Biscay. Following the permanent cessation of flying by all Concorde, there are no SSTs in commercial service.

Supersonic airliners are significantly heavier, less aerodynamic, create sonic booms and have lower range and cost more for travel than subsonic airliners. While supersonic jet engines are rather more efficient per mile, the net efficiency of the aircraft is lower and cost per seat rather higher.

Nevertheless, Concorde was operated profitably in a niche market for over 25 years.

Source: Wikipedia