On January 24, 1978, Air France Concorde F-BVFC operated a special flight from Paris to Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. Flight AF 6179 flew to Kish, followed by return flight AF 6180 the same day. The journeys took 3 hours 41 minutes and 3 hours 57 minutes respectively, reaching Mach 2.02 and 60,000 feet. The flight coincided with Kish Island’s development as a luxury tourist destination. In November 1977, the French newspaper Rouge reported plans for twice-monthly Concorde services and suggested that the inaugural passengers might include personal guests of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
At the time, was also among Concorde’s customers, although the supersonic aircraft never entered its fleet. Passenger David Dodd documented the Paris–Kish–Paris journey in a signed flight record. This aircraft was built by built by Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale, (Aerospatiale), Toulouse, France. It was entered onto the French Aircraft Register as F-BVFB and registered to Aerospatiale.
