Concorde loses part of rudder over the Atlantic

An Air France Concorde lost part of its rudder over the Atlantic yesterday but managed to land at JFK airport in New York at the scheduled time.

The incident occurred eight days after another Air France Concorde made an emergency landing at Halifax in Nova Scotia, having had a partial failure in one engine.

Air France said it had opened a "technical inquiry" but that the aircraft was never in danger.

This was the ninth time that problems have occurred with Air France or British Airways Concordes since the supersonic aircraft resumed commercial service in November 2001, after the Concorde crash near Paris in July 2000.

The incident will renew questions on Concorde's future. On Wednesday British Airways announced that it was considering phasing out super-sonic flights. The airline said bookings were falling and a decision would have to be made on whether to retire Concorde gracefully.