Concorde Cleared for Comeback

N E W   Y O R K, Sept. 5 -- A little over a year after an Air France Concorde burst into flames and crashed near Paris, killing everyone on board, the luxury airliners have been cleared to resume service.

French and British aviation authorities gave the green light today for Air France and British Airways, the two airlines operating the famous supersonic jets, to resume service — with some new safety features added to the planes.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority in London, the ultra-fast planes will return to action one by one, after each passes inspection.

"Once the changes are completed on each individual aircraft the regulatory authorities can return its Certificate of Airworthiness," the Civil Aviation Authority announced today.

There are currently 12 Concordes eligible for service: five Air France planes and seven belonging to British Airways. A British Airways spokesman says the airline hopes to resume once-a-day London-New York flights in each direction in October, after a month of test flights.

Will the Clients Come Back?

Even so, there's no guarantee that Concorde passengers will put the crash behind them and start snapping up the $11,000 round-trip tickets for trans-Atlantic flights — although airline officials think they will.

"We don't think it's going to be affected," says one Air France official about demand for the Concorde, adding that the airline has been in contact with the plane's regular passengers. "It's a pretty specific client list, and it's only 100 seats a day."

John Lampl, a vice president of corporate communications for British Airways, says his airline maintained "constant contact" with what he calls "our top 50 clients," and even held demonstrations in London and New York about the safety changes made to the planes.

"There are people who go 20, 30, 40 times a year," says Lampl of a group that includes "chairmen, presidents of companies, very senior people in investment banking firms." He expects them to keep taking advantage of the three-hour flights.