This photograph shows Her Majesty The Queen descending the steps of a Concorde plane on her arrival in Kuwait in 1979. The Queen had first travelled with Concorde, the supersonic passenger airliner, in 1977. The airliner was also used for trips to Barbados in 1987 and 2003, as well as for a visit to Middle East in 1984 and to the United States in 1991. Concorde had a maximum speed of over twice the speed of sound but was retired in 2003, with safety factors cited as one of the concerns. Today Her Majesty travels with The Queen's Helicopter Flight, the Royal Air Force or scheduled commercial flights.