The introduction of the Concorde supersonic transport ( SST ) airliner to regular service in 1976 was expected to bring similar social changes , but the aircraft never found commercial success . After two and a half decades of service , a fatal crash near Paris in July 2000 and other factors eventually caused Concorde flights to be discontinued in 2003 . This was the only loss of an SST in civilian service . Only one other SST design was used in a civilian capacity , the Soviet era Tu-144 , but it was soon withdrawn due to high maintenance and other issues . McDonnell Douglas , Lockheed and Boeing were three U.S. manufacturers that had originally planned to develop various SST designs since the 1960s , but these projects were eventually abandoned for various developmental , cost , and other practical reasons
fatal crash near Paris in July 2000
Air France Flight 4590
Jet Age