British Airways said yesterday it had detected cracks in the wings of its seven supersonic Concorde aircraft - causing one plane to be grounded - but insisted there was no danger to passengers. The airline said the cracks had been detected some months ago, but all seven aircraft had remained in service until the problem was found to have worsened in one plane last week.
"We detected a few months ago some cracks in all our Concordes in a rear spar which stretches across the plane towards the back of the wing," a British Airways spokeswoman told Reuters. Each of the cracks was around two inches long (50 mm), the spokeswoman said. "We immediately told the manufacturer, Aerospatiale, and the Civil Aviation Authority," she said. "They came and looked at the cracks, which are in a non-safety critical part of the aircraft, and allowed us to continue flying."
Routine monitoring with ultra-sonic equipment revealed last week that the crack in one aircraft had grown by around 0.63 inches (16 mm). British Airways said passengers had not been at risk, and there was no danger posed by the cracks in the six aircraft which continued to fly.
Air France, like British Airways, said yesterday it too had detected cracks in the wings of the supersonic airliner Concorde, but added there was no danger to passengers. An Air France spokeswoman said "microcracks" had appeared on four of the airline's six Concorde aircraft a few months ago. Two of the four affected planes were currently in service and the other two were grounded for an unrelated, periodical review. The spokeswoman said the cracks were under control. The two airlines were liasing on the problem. Reuters
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
