From The Archives: Concorde Commercial Service Begins 50 Years Ago

On 21 January 1976, the British and French Concorde supersonic aircraft opened international fare-paying passenger services with British Airways' Concorde landing in Bahrain ahead of schedule and Air France arriving at Rio de Janeiro 42 minutes behind schedule after simultaneous takeoffs from Europe. 

The Air France and British Airways Concordes took off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow Airports at 12:40 pm GMT after a 30-second countdown by both pilots.

Read more in the news story from our archive. 

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