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Fans fight for Concorde souvenirs
LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Airways has been inundated with requests by Concorde fanatics who want to buy bits of the supersonic plane, once it retires from service in October. Europe's largest airline revealed that it had received over 300 "weird and wonderful" requests concerning the future of the aircraft, including marrying on Concorde, using it in a music video and hosting dinner parties. Parts of the planes, which cross the Atlantic at 1,370 miles per hour, could fetch more than £7 million ($11 million), with the distinctive nose sections a top draw, if BA decides to auction them. Auction Web sites like Ebay already offer more than 260 souvenirs from the aircraft's 27 years of service, including safety instructions and matches that sell for in excess of £15. BA says it has not decided what to do with its seven Concordes. The airline originally said they were not for sale after Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways said it wanted to buy them for £1 ($1.60) each. "We have said that some of the planes might end up on display and it is possible that up to four intact Concordes could go to museums," a BA spokeswoman told CNN. "It has been rumored that the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. would be interested in having a Concorde on display, and there has also been a suggestion that a Concorde could be exhibited at Heathrow airport -- perhaps in the new Terminal 5." The National Space Museum have also expressed an interest in purchasing one. The world's only supersonic aircraft has struggled since the Air France crash outside Paris in July 2000, which killed 113 people . Bookings have fallen and competition from cheaper flights to New York against rising maintenance costs have made the aircraft commercially redundant.
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