Anti-Concorde Project

The Anti-Concorde Project, founded by environmental activist Richard Wiggs, challenged the idea of supersonic passenger transport, and curtailed Concorde's commercial prospects. When Concorde entered service in 1976, of the 74 options (non-binding orders, from 16 airlines) held at the time of the first flight, only those for the state airlines of Britain (BOAC) and France (Air France) were taken up, so that only 20 were built, although flights were also flown for Braniff International and Singapore Airlines. It triggered research into the factors affecting the creation of sonic booms, which led to the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration and Quiet Supersonic Platform which achieved their goal of reducing the intensity of sonic booms (by about one-third), and echoed public concern about aircraft noise that resulted in more restrictive noise limits for aircraft and airport operations, as well as changes in both operating procedures and aircraft design to further reduce noise levels.

In the late 1950s, following the breaking of the sound barrier, first by experimental aircraft, then military aircraft, a supersonic passenger aircraft was thought feasible. By the early 1970s however, opposition led to bans on commercial supersonic flight in Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, West Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Canada and the United States. The choice of routes available was limited as supersonic flight was only possible outside built up areas, primarily over water, and few airfields were large enough for their takeoff runs. It was also clear that the aircraft was costly to build, and used more fuel per passenger per kilometer than other commercial aircraft at a time of rapidly rising fuel prices.

Research by aeronautics engineer Bo Lundberg, Director of the Swedish Aeronautical Research Institute in the early 1960s suggested that sonic booms and aircraft engine noise would not be widely accepted.

The Anti-Concorde Project was founded in 1966 by Richard Wiggs (a school teacher) to oppose the development of supersonic passenger transport. Wiggs positioned the Concorde as a test case in the confrontation between the environment and technology.

...
Wikipedia