Editing Concorde (section)

===Sales efforts===
[[File:British Concorde.jpg|thumb|[[British Airways]] Concorde in early BA livery at [[Heathrow Airport|London-Heathrow Airport]] in the early 1980s]]

Advertisements for Concorde during the late 1960s placed in publications such as ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'' predicted a market for 350 aircraft by 1980.<ref>48 years ago in AW&ST, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 25 May – 7 June 2015, p. 14.</ref> The new consortium intended to produce one long-range and one short-range version, but prospective customers showed no interest in the short-range version, thus it was later dropped.<ref name="earlyhist" />

Concorde's costs spiralled during development to more than six times the original projections, arriving at a unit cost of £23&nbsp;million in 1977 (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|23|1977|r=2}} million in {{Inflation-year|UK}}).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1352927/Is-this-the-end-of-the-Concorde-dream.html |url-access=subscription |title=Is this the end of the Concorde dream? | publisher=The Daily Telegraph |first=Paul |last=Marston |date=16 August 2000 }}</ref> Its sonic boom made travelling supersonically over land impossible without causing complaints from citizens.<ref name="Concordes limited to 16">{{cite news |title=Concordes limited to 16 | publisher=Virgin Islands Daily News|date=5 June 1976}}</ref> World events also dampened Concorde sales prospects; the [[1973–74 stock market crash]] and the [[1973 oil crisis]] had made airlines cautious about aircraft with high fuel consumption, and new [[wide-body aircraft]], such as the [[Boeing 747]], had recently made subsonic aircraft significantly more efficient and presented a low-risk option for airlines.{{sfn|Ross|1978|pp=47–49}} While carrying a full load, Concorde achieved 15.8 [[passenger miles per gallon]] of fuel, while the [[Boeing 707]] reached 33.3&nbsp;pm/g, the Boeing 747 46.4&nbsp;pm/g, and the [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]] 53.6&nbsp;pm/g.{{sfn|Ross|1978|p=49}} A trend in favour of cheaper airline tickets also caused airlines such as [[Qantas]] to question Concorde's market suitability.{{sfn|Gunn|2010|p=45}} During the early 2000s, ''[[Flight International]]'' described Concorde as being "one of aerospace's most ambitious but commercially flawed projects",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/2003/2003%20-%202360.html |title=Concorde – 2003–2360 – Flight Archive |publisher=Flight International |access-date=12 November 2016 |archive-date=12 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112212240/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/2003/2003%20-%202360.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Concorde Special – Flawed Icon |date=21 October 2003 |publisher=Flight Global |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/concorde-special-flawed-icon-172669/ |access-date=12 November 2016 |archive-date=12 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112211651/https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/concorde-special-flawed-icon-172669/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The consortium received orders (non-binding options) for more than 100 of the long-range version from the major airlines of the day: [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]], [[British Overseas Airways Corporation|BOAC]], and Air France were the launch customers, with six aircraft each. Other airlines in the order book included [[Panair do Brasil]], [[Continental Airlines]], [[Japan Airlines]], [[Lufthansa]], [[American Airlines]], [[United Airlines]], [[Air India]], [[Air Canada]], [[Braniff International Airways|Braniff]], [[Singapore Airlines]], [[Iran Air]], [[Olympic Airways]], [[Qantas]], [[CAAC Airlines]], [[Middle East Airlines]], and [[Trans World Airlines|TWA]].<ref name="earlyhist" /><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903850,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050116102945/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903850,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 January 2005 |title=Aerospace: Pan Am's Concorde Retreat |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=12 February 1973}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Vertrag mit Luken |trans-title=Contract with escape hatches |magazine=Der Spiegel |volume=12 |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46437753.html |date=13 March 1967 |access-date=6 November 2012 |archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203050949/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46437753.html |url-status=live}}</ref> At the time of the first flight, the options list contained 74 options from 16 airlines:<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.heritageconcorde.com/concorde-orders-and-options |title=Concorde orders and options |website=heritage-concorde |access-date=18 September 2020 |archive-date=29 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929093832/https://www.heritageconcorde.com/concorde-orders-and-options |url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Airline
! Number
! Reserved
! Cancelled
! Remarks
|-
| [[Pan Am]] || 6 || 3 June 1963 || 31 January 1973 || 2 extra options in 1964
|-
| [[Air France]] || 6 || 3 June 1963 || || 2 extra options in 1964
|-
| [[BOAC]] || 6 || 3 June 1963 || || 2 extra options in 1964
|-
| [[Continental Airlines]] || 3 || 24 July 1963 || March 1973 ||
|-
| [[American Airlines]] || 4 || 7 October 1963 || February 1973 || 2 extra options in 1965
|-
| [[TWA]] || 4 || 16 October 1963 || 31 January 1973 || 2 extra options in 1965
|-
| [[Middle East Airlines]] || 2 || 4 December 1963 || February 1973 ||
|-
| [[Qantas]] || 6 || 19 March 1964 || June 1973<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chamberlin |first1=Chris |date=16 May 2020 |title=Supersonic dreams: how Qantas almost flew the Concorde |url=https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/qantas-concorde-supersonic |website=Executive Traveller |access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref> || 2 cancelled in May 1966
|-
| [[Air India]] || 2 || 15 July 1964 || February 1975 ||
|-
| [[Japan Airlines]] || 3 || 30 September 1965 || 1973 ||
|-
| [[Sabena]] || 2 || 1 December 1965 || February 1973 ||
|-
| [[Eastern Airlines]] || 2 || 28 June 1966 || February 1973 || 2 extra options on 15 August 1966 <br/>2 other extra options on 28 April 1967
|-
| [[United Airlines]] || 6 || 29 June 1966 || 26 October 1972 ||
|-
| [[Braniff]] || 3 || 1 September 1966 || February 1973 ||
|-
| [[Lufthansa]] || 3 || 16 February 1967 || April 1973 ||
|-
| [[Air Canada]] || 4 || 1 March 1967 || 6 June 1972<ref>Peter Pigott: ''Air Canada, the History''. 2014 {{ISBN|978-1-4597-1952-1}}. p. 104</ref> ||
|-
| [[CAAC Airlines|CAAC]] || 2 || 24 July 1972 || December 1979<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heritageconcorde.com/concorde-orders-and-options|title=Concorde orders and options|website=Heritage Concorde|access-date=18 September 2020|archive-date=29 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929093832/https://www.heritageconcorde.com/concorde-orders-and-options|url-status=live}}</ref> ||
|-
| [[Iran Air]] || 2 || 8 October 1972 || February 1980 ||
|}