How long did the Concorde take from Paris to New York?

Air France's schedule between Charles de Gaulle and John F. Kennedy showed a block time of between 3 h 30 min and 3 h 45 min, that is, from removing the chocks to shutting down the engines; the time airborne was somewhat less. The typical itinerary departed Paris around 11:00 and landed in New York before 9:00 local time, earlier than the departure time on the clock, thanks to the six-hour time difference. The route's 5,850 km were thus covered at an average speed of over 1,600 km/h, cruising at Mach 2.02 (about 2,150 km/h) between 15,000 and 18,000 m (50,000-60,000 ft).

A flight was divided into three phases: about 25 subsonic minutes after takeoff until clearing the coast, where the sonic boom would not be a nuisance; acceleration with afterburners through Mach 1 over the Atlantic; and a climbing cruise in which the aircraft slowly climbed as it burned fuel, until beginning its descent about 300 km from New York.

A 747 or an A340 took between 7 h 30 min and 8 h on the same route heading west, against the prevailing wind. The Concorde flew so far above the jet stream that wind barely affected its time, although heading west it landed with tighter fuel reserves. British Airways holds the crossing record: 2 h 52 min 59 s between New York and London on 7 February 1996, with an unusually strong tailwind.

Air France and British Airways launched the service to New York on the same day, 22 November 1977, after nearly two years of litigation with the Port Authority of New York over noise. Air France kept the route until 31 May 2003, with a pause after the Gonesse accident in July 2000, and British Airways flew London-New York until 24 October 2003.