Concorde flight gets green light

PARIS, France -- An Air France Concorde has been allowed to fly to southern France amid hopes of returning the supersonic fleet to the sky.

The permit allows Concorde to fly from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to a military aviation base in Istres, near Marseilles, and back to the capital.

France's national civil aviation body (DGAC) made the announcement on Tuesday and said the permit was valid for one month from Thursday.

Meanwhile, British Airways began lining the fuel tanks of its Concordes with the same type of rubber used in bulletproof vests in a move aimed at making the plane safe to resume service this spring.

The Air France flight will be the first take-off of a Concorde from Charles de Gaulle since last July when the jet crashed killing 113 people.

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The aircraft will undergo two weeks of tests, to be carried out by European aerospace group EADS, consisting of simulating fuel leaks from the underside of Concorde, using a coloured liquid to see the direction of the flows.

"The observations will allow us to analyse the efficiency of the planned modifications," Air France's chief operating officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said.

No passengers will be allowed on the flights, which will be preceded by rigorous preparations, including a "detailed inspection of the runway and taxi areas," a DGAC statement said.

Rubber debris

As Air France prepared for its test flight, BA said it would cost $25 million and take eight to 10 weeks to install the Kevlar-rubber lining into the interior of the fuel tanks and strengthen the undercarriage wiring for each of the airline's seven luxury jets.

Chief BA Concorde pilot Mike Bannister said changes to the jet's delta-shaped wings were intended to prevent a fuel leak like the one that caused the crash.

Investigators believe the crash was caused when a metal strip lying on the runway gashed one of the Concorde's tyres, sending rubber debris hurtling toward fuel tanks and triggering a fuel leak and fire that brought the plane down.

"The key part of returning Concorde to safety is to ensure that the massive fire can't happen again and we're endeavouring to do that by ensuring the massive fuel leak can't happen again," Bannister said.

The Kevlar-rubber has never been fitted on civil planes before. Used in flak jackets to shield wearers from bullets, it is also regularly fitted in military helicopters and Formula One racing cars to resist fire.

The liner is made up of tailor-made sections - between four and six feet long and between one foot and 18 inches wide -- that fit into the wing tanks.

"Should the underside of the tank become punctured, the tank liner is sucked down into the resulting hole. Because it is flexible, it plugs the hole," Bannister said.

French Transportation Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot said on Sunday that the luxury jets could return to service sometime this year, if tests proved the chain of events leading to the July 25 crash could not be repeated.

A British Airways spokesman said the company expected aviation authorities to reinstate Concorde's overall airworthiness certificate and hoped service would gradually be resumed with one daily London to New York flight in the spring.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.