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Fastest Commercial Airliner

- question from Alok

You've actually answered your own question--the fastest passenger aircraft still in service as of this writing is the Concorde. Its maximum speed is quoted as Mach 2.23, but in actual use it is limited to slightly over Mach 2.

Concorde

The fastest passenger aircraft ever built was the slightly faster Tupolev Tu-144, a Russian aircraft very similar to the Concorde. However, the Tu-144 was larger and fitted with more powerful engines giving it a maximum speed of about Mach 2.35. Nevertheless, the Tu-144 suffered many technical and safety problems and was removed from passenger travel after only a few months. It has since been used as a high-speed research aircraft by both Russia and the United States. Tupolev is reportedly developing a new supersonic aircraft, called the Tu-244, which the company hopes will be in position to replace the Concorde by about 2010.
- answer by Jeff Scott, 26 January 2003

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