Since when was "Concorde regulated out of existence"?
Wikipedia says it's simply because of economical reason it was retired: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde#Retirement
Not every failure is an anti-free-market conspiracy.
Wikipedia says it's simply because of economical reason it was retired: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde#Retirement
Not every failure is an anti-free-market conspiracy.
The Concorde was only allowed to fly supersonic over water, making many potential flight routes are impossible. The New York to Mexico City route Required it to drop from mach 2 to mach 0.95 while flying over Florida before accelerating back up to mach 2, wasting a huge amount of fuel in the process.
Originally it wasn't even allowed to land in the US, with Congress banning it outright. It wasn't allowed into New York until a year after its introduction.
Sure, the larger issue was that it made too much noise in supersonic flight, maybe you could fix that in a newer aircraft. But with all the regulatory issues Concorde faced in it's lifetime, companies are disidentified from trying.
So, yes, economics killed the Concorde. But, it was the regulatory environment put in place 30-odd years ago that created those economic conditions.
The economic conditions were created by airlines mismanaging expectations.
But, if it were $800 vs $1200 for a 9-hour vs 4-hour flight (and all else equal), I might be tempted. That would allow a very early departure from DC and still be in Rome for lunch. Currently, the best option is usually an overnight flight, but I never sleep well on those.