Concorde returns to service today

Concorde is making a return to passenger service today, with both British Airways and Air France operating flights to New York.

Concorde returns to service today

Concorde is making a return to passenger service today, with both British Airways and Air France operating flights to New York.

Out-going New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani will greet the arrival of the aircraft, grounded by a crash in summer last year.

British PM Tony Blair will fly in Concorde later today from London to Washington DC for talks and dinner with George W Bush.

BA and Air France have made significant modifications to their planes to ensure the events which led to last year's crash cannot be repeated.

A tyre burst caused by a sharp object left on the Tarmac at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport caused a rupture of a fuel tank and a catastrophic fire which downed the plane.

The Air France Concorde crash claimed 113 lives.

Air France, which is operating a fare-paying flight from Paris today, is landing first at New York's Kennedy airport - at around 8.25am local time.

The BA Concorde flight is due to take off from Heathrow airport at 10.30am, arriving in New York at 9.25am local time.

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