by ozzy72 » Wed May 28, 2003 1:55 pm
PARIS (Reuters) - Air France will donate its fleet of five Concordes to museums when it stops flights by the supersonic passenger jet on May 31, the airline says. Air France and British Airways announced in April they were retiring the slender, needle-nosed jets because of rising maintenance costs, excessive fuel consumption and waning demand for tickets at some $7,000 (4,285 pounds) a seat. Air France said it would donate Concordes to the U.S. National Air and Space Museum in Washington, the Technik Museum in Speyer, Germany, the French Air & Space Museum at Le Bourget and an air museum being built by planemaker Airbus in Toulouse. Its fifth Concorde, which has just been overhauled, was scheduled to go on display at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. "In doing this, Air France wishes to allow as many people as possible to see this legendary aircraft, which has made its mark not just on Air France, but on aviation history," it said. An Air France Concorde crashed near Paris in July 2000, killing 113 people. Entrepreneur Richard Branson has expressed interest in buying British Airways's fleet of the 100-seater planes for his Virgin Atlantic Airways, but the airline said it too would rather donate the aircraft to museums.
There are two types of aeroplane, Spitfires and everything else that wishes it was a Spitfire!
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