The British-French supersonic airplane Concorde soared through the skies at Mach 2 in the years 1976 to 2003. Its history illuminates several important economic and business lessons. Is a supersonic airplane simply uneconomic or will commercial passengers fly supersonic again? Show host Gene Tunny and his fellow economist Arturo Espinoza Bocangel discuss.  

Links relevant to the conversation

EP129 which mentioned the Concorde:

https://economicsexplored.com/2022/03/07/top-10-insights-from-economics-ep129-show-notes-transcript/

Economist article on the Concorde with good summary of what went wrong:

https://www.economist.com/business/2003/10/16/after-concorde

Conversation article on future of supersonic air travel:

https://theconversation.com/supersonic-flights-are-set-to-return-heres-how-they-can-succeed-where-concorde-failed-162268

AP article on Concorde being “unexpected success” in 1986:

https://apnews.com/article/fa1e281d544267a8afe77afceaf3f03f

Early seventies cost-benefit analysis of the Concorde mentioned in the episode:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/e-journals/jtep/pdf/Volume_V1_No_3_225-239.pdf

Other websites consulted:

https://daily.jstor.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-supersonic-concorde/

https://www.businessinsider.com/concorde-supersonic-jet-history-2018-10?r=AU&IR=T

https://theadaptivemarketer.com/2012/01/14/a-pricing-lesson-from-the-concorde/

https://www.heritageconcorde.com/who-built-concorde

https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-concorde/

https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/concorde2.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/phil-collins-live-aid/

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/celebrity-passengers-and-caviar-at-55000-feet-what-it-was-like-to-fly-concorde-in-the-70s

https://www.economist.com/1843/2018/09/03/when-concorde-was-the-future

Thanks to the show’s audio engineer Josh Crotts for his assistance in producing the episode. 

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