1/21/1976: Concorde Enters Synchronized Service

DALLAS — Today, in 1976, Air France (AF) and British Airways (BA) simultaneously put the Concorde into commercial service. AF's Concorde, with the registration F-BVFA, and BA's Concorde, with the registration G-BOAA, took off at 11:40 UTC.

Air France's Concorde, with flight number AF025, departed from Paris (ORY) and flew to Rio de Janeiro (GIG) via Dakar (DKR). Captain Pierre Chanoine piloted the flight, which arrived at its final destination at 16:45 Paris time.

British Airways' first Concorde flight, with the flight number BA300, departed from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and headed for Bahrain. Captain Norman Todd and Brian Calvert piloted the flight. Unlike the typical transatlantic operations, this flight took a different route, flying subsonically over Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Middle East.

Despite flying subsonically, the Concorde still managed to shave two and a half hours off the travel time compared to a subsonic plane on the same route. The tandem flights between AF and BA marked the beginning of a new era of flight.

Coming to America

While Concorde would later become synonymous with transatlantic air travel, the jet was still banned from landing in the US at the time of the inaugural flights. The ban was finally lifted in February 1977 but remained in New York until October 17.

Scheduled services between Paris and London to New York (JFK) commenced on November 22. Air France would operate its South American services until 1982, while BA ceased flying to Bahrain in November 1980.

A Source of Pride

The simultaneous flights were part of the joint effort between the two countries and their respective flag carriers to develop the supersonic jet.

At the time, Her Majesty the Queen sent a message to the French President saying, "On the occasion of today's inaugural flight by Concorde aircraft of Air France and British Airways, I send you and the French people my warmest congratulations."

She added, "Today's flights mark the successful outcome of 14 years of close collaboration between our two nations. It is a source of pride that our countries have today inaugurated a new era in civil aviation."

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