[Someone]

Reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde, it was partly the world changing, but also budget overruns and the sonic booms. Also, part of “the world changing” was that the 747 appeared, a plane that Concorde couldn’t really compete with, economically.

Also, it seems the bill for development of the Concorde was paid for by the governments of Great Britain and France, and wasn’t fully accounted for in the unit price.

If so, that made it a much more attractive proposition. I also would think some airlines placed pre-orders in a defensive move (if it had become wildly successful, airlines flying slow planes could get in trouble)

I doubt any manufacturer would have dared to design and build a supersonic plane if they had to have to pay for all development (Boeing had a competing project (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_2707), but that, too, seems to have been heavily government sponsored)

[ghaff]

In some ways, the 747 was also designed for a different world. The hump housed a first class lounge originally. https://www.pinterest.com/nickverreos/747-upper-deck-flying-...

But when business class came in, it got converted into an upper deck of business class seats in most configurations.

[craz8]

British Airways equipped that section as Economy for many years. It was like flying in a short 737 up there!

[eternalban]

The Shah flew the Concorde and apparently liked it so much, ordered 3 (Condorde 'B') on the spot. Typically ahead of his time, his vision was for making Iran a major hub along the lines of what Dubai and Qatar have done in the interim.

Interesting to note that China apparently also ordered Concordes.

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/29/archives/shah-of-iran-rep...

[Someone]

I wouldn’t use the Shah of Iran‘s intents as indicator of economical feasibility.

And that’s ignoring the possibility that that order was in return for other transactions (for example, they got enriched uranium from France (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France–Iran_relations#Nuclear_... says they refused to continue to provide Iran with enriched uranium after the 1979 Islamic revolution, so they must have been delivering it before) and the technology to make it (https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/12/29/the-shahs-atomic-dreams...) and hundreds of Chieftain tanks from Britain (https://www.offiziere.ch/?p=33866)

[eternalban]

The Shah of Iran bailed out France's nuclear industry. That is why Islamic Republic has shares in a French nuclear fuel processing concern.

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/26/world/france-and-iran-men...

> I wouldn’t use the Shah of Iran‘s intents as indicator of economical feasibility.

Or people who post from surface knowledge. Sure.

-- ps --

In 1975 Sweden's 10 per cent share in Eurodif went to Iran. The French government subsidiary company Cogéma and the Iranian Government established the Sofidif (Société franco–iranienne pour l'enrichissement de l'uranium par diffusion gazeuse) enterprise with 60 and 40 per cent shares, respectively. In turn, Sofidif acquired a 25 per cent share in Eurodif, which gave Iran its 10 per cent share of Eurodif. Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi lent 1 billion dollars (and another 180 million dollars in 1977) for the construction of the Eurodif factory, to have the right of buying 10 per cent of the production of the site.

"President Gerald Ford signed a directive in 1976 offering Tehran the chance to buy and operate a U.S.-built reprocessing facility for extracting plutonium from nuclear reactor fuel. The deal was for a complete 'nuclear fuel cycle'."[27] The Ford strategy paper said the "introduction of nuclear power will both provide for the growing needs of Iran's economy and free remaining oil reserves for export or conversion to petrochemicals."

A 1974 CIA proliferation assessment stated "If [the Shah] is alive in the mid-1980s ... and if other countries [particularly India] have proceeded with weapons development we have no doubt Iran will follow suit."[28]

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

[pinkfoot]

The also made decent long-range, Mach 2 bombers. (For the time)

[lmm]

The FAA's position on booms changed dramatically once Boeing abandoned their project. Many Europeans believe the ban on supersonic flights over the US mainland was more about protecting US manufacturers.