Concorde had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound. First flown in 1969 and entering active service in 1976 it flew up to 128 passengers at a time. It is one of only two supersonic transports to have been operated commercially; the other is the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which operated in service from 1977 to 1978. Concorde retired in 2003 after 27 years of service.