BA talks up Concorde plan

Some of the supersonic planes could be retired to Bristol

The battle over whether or not Concorde will fly after its commercial retirement in October is far from over.

BA has announced it is now considering a plan for at least some of the planes to perform at airshows on fly-pasts.

This mirrors a proposal put forward recently by Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson for the creation of a heritage trust to keep at least one of the planes flying.

Meanwhile, BA have confirmed the discovery on Monday of damaged wiring in the fuel pump area of the oldest of its Concorde planes.

The incident is serious enough for it to have been reported to the Civil Aviation Authority, as a potential threat to aircraft safety.

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The aircraft has been grounded for further tests, although no similar problems have been found on BA's four other operational planes.

The company also announced that 12 sites were being considered as possible homes for the seven-strong Concorde fleet - including Filton, Bristol, where the plane was built in the UK.

And that hundreds of free tickets will be given away from July, newswire AFP reported.

BA's last passenger Concorde service will leave New York at 0700 local time on 24 October, arriving at Heathrow Airport around mid-afternoon UK time.

The airline is also looking at the possibility of flying a Concorde to America to coincide with the 100th anniversary on 17 December of the Wright brothers' first manned, powered flight.

Concorde summit

"We are hopeful that Concorde can still fly after October but at the end of the day it will be the technical feasibility that will be the key issue," said BA spokesman Iain Burns.

He went on: "Whatever happens, Concorde will not fly passengers again and a lot of work is still needed before any decisions are made."

Sir Richard Branson also wants a Concorde "summit" to decide the aircraft's future, after his bid to buy the planes was turned down.

BA stressed that any home for the aircraft would have to have a link with the company and aviation and that any plans for the aircraft would have to include allowing people access to it and be "fitting and relevant".