A BRITISH Airways Concorde aircraft has had its Certificate
of Airworthiness returned paving the way for it to fly commercially once again.
The certificate has been issued by the CAA and its French
equivalent following the completion of safety modifications made to BA’s Alpha
Foxtrot aircraft.
BA director of customer service and operations said: “British
Airways has always said that we would only resume Concorde services once we
were convinced we could do so safely. The package of safety measures developed
by the manufacturers and agreed to day by the regulators enables us to achieve
this”.
Two further aircraft, Alpha Echo and Alpha Golf are in the
process of being modified.
The main alterations, which have been made to ensure there
is not a repeat of the Air France Concorde crash that killed over 100 people
last year, are: instillation of Kevlar-rubber fuel tank liners, the fitting of
new tyres and the strengthening of wiring in the undercarriage area.
The airline is expected to resume a London to New York
service as soon as three aircraft have been issued with certificates of
airworthiness.