Concorde, the world's fastest passenger plane, (1) (was developed) (develop) by France and Britain together. In the 1950s, both countries dreamed of having a supersonic plane and the project (2) (start) in 1962. 1.5 billion(3) (spend) on developing Concorde and it (4) (test) for over 5,000 hours, which makes it the most tested plane in history. The first passenger plane (5) (introduce) by British Airways and Air France in 1976. Concorde holds many world records, including the sound fastest crossing of the Atlantic from New York to London, which (6) (achieve) in 2 hours 45 seconds! Flying at twice the speed of sound means that flying time (7) (reduce) by half, which is why the Concorde flight between London and New York (8) (use) a lot by business people and film stars - you can leave Britain at 10.30 and arrive in New York an hour earlier! Twenty planes (build) up to the present day. But there are no plans to build any more. Each plane (10) (produce) at a cost of 255 million, which makes them very expensive.
(Adapted from John and Liz Soars, New Headway English Course Workbook, Oxford, O.U.P., 2000)