The Concorde was stopped for multiple key reasons:
- Safety Concerns: A major turning point was the crash of an Air France Concorde in July 2000, caused by a burst tire that damaged a fuel tank and led to a fire, killing all 109 people on board and 4 on the ground. This incident severely damaged public confidence in the aircraft, contributing significantly to its decline in passenger numbers.
- Economic and Operational Costs: The Concorde was extremely expensive to operate due to its high fuel consumption (around 6,771 gallons per flight), making many flights unprofitable. Combined with its limited routes primarily across the Atlantic and a passenger base of mostly first-class travelers, its economic sustainability was questionable.
- Environmental and Regulatory Restrictions: The sonic boom made supersonic travel over land impossible under regulations, restricting flights to over oceans, mainly between London, Paris, New York, and Washington. There were also noise complaints and environmental concerns about emissions, limiting the jet's operation range and public acceptance.
- Aging Technology and Maintenance Costs: By the early 2000s, Concorde needed expensive upgrades and maintenance, which airlines found too costly to invest in relative to the shrinking market and demand.
Overall, the combination of a tragic accident, high operational costs, environmental noise restrictions, and aging technology led Air France and British Airways to retire the Concorde in 2003 after 27 years of service.
Thus, Concorde was stopped primarily due to safety concerns after the crash, combined with the economically unviable operating costs and regulatory restrictions related to noise and supersonic travel over land.
