Rubber liner tests point to early Concorde return

LONDON (Dec. 15)—British Airways hopes to put its supersonic Concorde airliner back in service by early next year following "enouraging" tests of an aramid fiber-reinforced rubber lining fuel tank protection system. Company officials are hopeful British and French government transport officials will reinstate the Concorde´s airworthiness certificate, a British Airways spokeswoman said, based on the tests of the lining. The two national transport bodies grounded the supersonic airliner last year following the crash of an Air France Concorde, caused indirectly by debris from a tire that exploded on takeoff and penetrated fuel tanks in the aircraft´s wing. "We are optimistic that Concorde could fly again by late March early April," said the spokeswoman.