Concorde future 'under review'

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Concorde future 'under review'


Concorde has been ravaged by safety problems
Concorde could be taken out of service following a drop in demand,
British Airways has announced.
The carrier said its premium service between London and New York was
being reviewed but insisted such a process was "ongoing".
Concorde has been blighted by a rash of problems including the Paris
crash in July 2000 in which 113 people were killed.
At the end of last year it also emerged engine failure forced one New
York-bound plane to turn back to London and another flight was forced to
cut its speed when cracks appeared in a window.
BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds said the plane's flagship status
had stopped it from biting the dust earlier.
He said: "Some flights to New York have been half full and that is not
good for this plane.
 We are looking at when Concorde should retire although no decisions
have been taken

BA spokesman
"It doesn't make much of a profit and BA is certainly reviewing its
future."
A spokesman for British Airways said the long term future of Concorde
was kept under constant review.
He said: "We are looking at when Concorde should retire although no
decisions have been taken.
"We will continue to fly it so long as it is safe, reliable and
commercially viable.
"This is a prudent business planning process when one bears in mind the
amount of work behind such a decision."
The airline, however, denied newspaper reports that half of Concorde's
pilots and engineers have been reassigned to other flights or that
publication of Concorde's own in-flight magazine will cease in April.
Runway debris
Currently, Concorde is certified to fly until 2009 but a decision on its
future is expected in the next few months.
The plane, born out a joint Anglo-French project, and developed by
engineers at Filton, near Bristol, operates daily out of London Heathrow
and Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport to North America. It cruises at
around 1350 mph at an altitude of up to 60,000ft (11 miles) meaning a
crossing from Europe to New York takes less than three and a half hours.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the Civil Aviation
Authority both say Concorde remains safe to fly.
The Paris crash was blamed on debris on the runway which punctured a
tyre.
Tyre fragments penetrated the fuel tank, leading to a catastrophic fire
which caused the aircraft to crash.
Following the crash, the plane underwent an extensive refit including
the fitting of bullet-proof Kevlar rubber linings to the fuel tank,
tougher tyres and a strengthening of the wiring in the undercarriage
bay.

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