After 6 years of on and off profitability, in 1982 Concorde was established in its own operating division (Concorde Division) under Capt. Brian Walpole and Capt. Jock Lowe.
[202] Their research revealed that regular passengers thought that the fare was higher than it actually was (business travellers were the majority of passengers), so the airline raised ticket prices to match these perceptions
[70][203][204][205] and, following the successful marketing research and repositioning, Concorde ran profitably for British Airways. The ticket price was pitched above subsonic first class but not as much as might be expected at about 10-15% more (1996 £4,772 versus subsonic first class £4,314) adding to its corporate appeal and ensuring loyalty from regular users which brought regular load factors around 80%.
[206][207]
Over the next 20 years, British Airways Concordes earned over half a billion pounds in profit with (typically) just 5 aircraft operating and 2 in various maintenance cycles