So did British Airways and Air France operate it for 30 years just for the sake of it, then? :-?
All for public image and to make them "different" from other airlines.
The Concorde surely was a unique and distinguishable aircraft, but it was crystal clear that it wouldn't stand a chance on the airline market without constant financial injections.
WWWWWWWWWWRONG!!!!!!!!
contrary to popular belief, BA operated concorde with huge profitability for lengthy periods of time, including after the concorde crash. What did for it was Airbus' cutting of replacement part supply.
Not literally, but it's blatantly just aimed at being sort of a double decker 747, the Concorde (or the Tu144) was a totally unique design as far as airliners went.
Unique, yet as successful as a c-movie actor trying to win an Academy Award.
I'm not bothered about how successful it was, it was a beautiful aircraft that inspired people and was instantly recognisable. That's what matters to me (and many others) as an enthusiast, not how successful it was being a bus.
The A380 could carry millions of people everywhere for a century with a superb career and I still wouldn't care about it in the slightest, it's got zero character, just a boring double decker bus.
I bet if the new superjumbo was a boeing, you'd be singing the praises of it.
When it boils down to it, does the passenger actually care what kind of airliner he flies in? He'd only ever consciously be interested in what type he was flying if the type in question was concorde - because, like you said, it was so radically different. The airlines are the ones that care about different types, and they don't care about looks, they care about statistics. The statistics for the A380 are looking very pretty for airlines.