Concorde flight approvals
Concorde seeks flight approval
A series of test flights have been carried out Concorde could be resuming passenger flights within weeks if assurances about the plane's safety are accepted.The aircraft's manufacturers are to make final submissions on Wednesday to convince the
British and French aviation authorities that the plane can safely take to the skies again.
British Airways is seeking to reinstate the
airliner's permission-to-fly certificate, which was withdrawn after last year's crash near Paris. If the Civil Aviation Authority and its counterpart in France gives the go ahead, Concorde could restart scheduled flights next month. The French civil aviation authority(DGAC) said on Tuesday it needed to
see all the relevant files before it could
give approval for flights to resume. "The aim is to give Concorde its certificate
of airworthiness back but not in haste," a
DGAC spokeswoman said.
British Airways has already conducted a series of test flights. They followed a £17m investment in strengthening the fuel tanks and tyres to ensure that the fatal fire which caused last year's crash will not happen again. The CAA has been monitoring the test results and is broadly satisfied.But it will study Wednesday's submissions before making its final decision.
Progress report:
This could come as early as next Monday when
an inter-governmental group meets to discuss
progress.
BA wants to resume its London to New York
flights at the end of next month. But it would need three modified Concordes to do so. BA says its customers want Concorde flights to be resumed as soon as possible.
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