Concorde vs. regional jets
 

Yes, they are in somewhat different categories! But surely they bear comparing...

Concorde seats 4 abreast, in a cabin 263 cm wide. Mainline longhaul aircraft are usually wider, at least 6 abreast, but often widebodies with 8-10 abreast. And this has effects to headroom - Concorde, I think, was just 192 cm in the aisle, while Boeing 737 IIRC has 216 cm, Airbus 320 family has 225 cm, among the widebodies Boeing 747 has 241 cm.

Whereas among the regionals, E-jets seat 4 abreast with 274 cm width and 200 cm headroom, Tu-134 has 4 abreast in 271 cm or so... what about other RJ-s like Canadair et cetera?

As for total size, Concorde seated 128 maximum, but usually 100 or 92. Many RJ-s are in 70-90 seat region - E-195 can have 118 seats, so approaching Concorde.

Again, Concorde can fly (on supersonic cruise) a bit longer than 4 hours - I think London-Barbados, 4 h 10 minutes or so was near maximum range. A subsonic jet cruising for 4 hours at 0,8 to 0,85 M covers about 1800 to 2000 nautical miles in 4 hours. Which is about the range of E-jets. Plenty of mainline narrowbodies, like Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 variants, also have ranges limited around 2000 nm, even though the same frames have versions with larger range, MTOW and fuel capacity.

How would you compare the size of airframe needed to transport 100 people for 4 hours at subsonic speed, or at a supersonic speed? And how does the fuel burn compare?

How would you compare the comfort of spending 4 hours in a regional jet, or in a Concorde?

How does the space available for belly luggage allowances, and for overhead bins/cabin luggage limits, compare between Concorde and regional jets?

Having flown both they were both very very similar.

Of course the Concorde was longer, but otherwise lateral and standing place was about the same.

Concorde had a little more leg room. More importantly the began feeding you almost immediately. This would keep you in your seat making it seem like a shorter ride.

When I’m on an RJ, I close my eyes and pretend that I’m on a fractional.

One can dream, I suppose.

Now if only the Regionals would add caviar and champagne, then they would be almost the same.

Funny thing is many RJ flight times are LONGER than Concorde flights were!

I agree that it is fairly similar to a RJ in interior specs, but somehow it felt MUCH more comfortable than a barbie jet when I had the fortune to fly it.

They could of had me sitting in a folding metal chair & I still would of had nothing but praise for the concorde. :D

I took a tour of a Concorde at the air and space museum in Seatlle (Boeing I think?), and was appalled at how uncomfortable it looked. For however much people were paying your would think they could have done better than that, though I'm sure there were concessions that had to be made for supersonic travel but jeesh!

:confused: Uncomfortable? No. I am 6ft and carrying a few pounds and found it perfectly decent for the flight length. 38inches of pitch is equivalent to a premium economy seat on VS/BA, and much more generous than an RJ. I've only flown on a CRJ but found it way more uncomfortable than Concorde from a seating and space point of view alone.

The food was quite good...made you forget about the little space

IMO 38" was ample legroom on Concorde for me @ 5'5" & rather wide with it.
We flew LHR -JFK in August '03 and ther was ample legroom & seat padding for the journey. I think the copius amounts of Champagne also helped the comfort factor.
The only complaint i'd make about flying Concorde was the size of the restrooms which were definately not designed for the fuller figure.
We toured the Seattle Concorde last year & i think what makes it seem smaller was the perspex screens on either side. If you visit any of the other Concordes that do not have the perspex screans i think you'd get a better idea of what it was like to travel on it.

Concorde seat was a cradle seat (made with Connoly leather, so same as a Rolls Royce). Haven't seen any cradle seats on RJs yet, though they certainly could use them. Makes a big difference in comfort and only costs an extra 2 inches in pitch. Concorde was very cleverly thought out, lot of design elements that worked well. Maybe the high point of 20th century design and technology. Quite astonishing when you consider the developement dates back to the 1950s and most was done before 1965.

As for RJ seat pitch, at least one airline has 34 inch pitch on RJs (Air Nostrum, an IB sub), and their CRJs are more comfortable than the IB mainline A320s. So it is possible to provide a premium service using RJ aircraft, just not easy and most airlines have chosen to have bad seats and no service instead. It isn't intrinsic to the plane type.

Seconded. Give me Concorde over an RJ anyday :D

Thirded. :) There's nothing (rampside, full ground support) equal to Concorde engine start. Hair (where?) tinglicity factor at maximum.
Unfortunately, all my time on Concorde was spent loading/offloading payload.

It took a huge amount of compressed air to start those RR Olympus engines on the Concorde; quite impressive to see the starter truck straining at engine start. It also meant Concorde couldn't takeoff from airports that lacked a suitable starter truck. BA always had a spare Concorde on standby (often at the adjacent gate), just in case the active duty one failed to start.

There is one airline (not sure about the others) Horizon (a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group), that has service with basically an open tap. Besides the usual Soda/ Water offering, they have Northwest brews and wines available, without charge. They operate both the dash-8, dash-4 and CRJ-700. So, jottman, the spirit lives on.

It would be possible to install 3 abreast seats on a plane. This was common on DC-3, which also often flies 4 abreast. Air Canada has 3 abreast Busines Class both on their CRJ-s and E-jets - 9 or 10 seats, and 38 inch pitch or so.

Though Concorde had 100 seats and 100 seat mainline narrowbodies commonly have first or business class, Concorde was always single class. Meaning the elbowroom was always the same 4 abreast in 263 cm width.

What changes were made to Concorde interiors for VIP charters? There was said to be a table somewhere...