A British Airways Concorde sent a Mayday alert when its fuel levels reached a critically low level over London last weekend, according to a Sunday newspaper.

The emergency call, issued close to Heathrow airport, has renewed concerns about the safety of the ageing supersonic airliner, The Observer reports.

The average age of each BA Concorde is more than 19 years.

Passengers were not told of the imminent danger and the plane landed safely. However, the incident is the fourth fuel exhaustion scare since 1990, says the paper.

British Airways has a fleet of seven Concordes

The Mayday alert was picked up by plane enthusiasts monitoring radio communications between the aircraft's captain and Heathrow ground controllers at about 6pm on January 3.

The spotters say the warning was made after the aircraft - returning to the capital from New York - had attempted one landing approach that was hampered by high winds.

On the second approach the captain issued a PAN alert which indicates a fuel emergency. This was followed five minutes later by a full Mayday alert 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometres) from the airport.

A BA spokeswoman told the newspaper that company policy was to call a fuel Mayday when it became "even remotely possible" that the aircraft would be close to tight company-set limits.

"Last weekend was an extraordinary situation," she told The Observer. "Flights were stacking up for up to 90 minutes because of the high winds so air traffic control was advised of the reserve situation so the plane could be given priority."

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