Concorde set to fly again by 2019

 Hazel Sheffield,The Independent 

Thanks to a fan club with a £180 million kitty, the supersonic airliner may soon return to the skies. 

Club Concorde, a group of ex-pilots, airline executives, engineers and Concorde enthusiasts have unveiled their plan to have the airliner back in the sky by 2019. Concorde was retired by its owners British Airways and Air France in 2003. The twin owners have since resisted the approaches of Richard Branson, who hoped to make the fleet commercially viable, much to the dismay of the members of Club Concorde. 

Club president Paul James told the Telegraph that the club has secured millions of pounds in investment to buy back the retired planes and get them back in action.The club's aims are twofold: display an aircraft by the London Eye, above the Thames, and buy another to do up and fly . The club has reportedly secured £40 million in investment to buy a plane to display . It hopes to purchase one that is currently stationed near Orly Airport in Paris and charge £16 a ticket to visitors on the Thames as soon as 2017. 

A further £120 million reserve fund has been secured to buy and restore an aircraft on display at Le Bourget airport in Paris. Once operational, the club plans to use this craft for fly-pasts at airshows as well as corporate and special events. Flying at supersonic speeds, a Concorde could fly between London and New York in a little less than three hours. In comparison, a regular commercial flight can take around seven hours. It has been nearly 12 years since Concorde took its last flight, with the final journey occurring on October 24th, 2013. While Club Concorde is hoping to get the plane back in action, despite the fact that British Airways and Air France have no plans to restore or sell the planes, it may not be the only supersonic jet in the sky . Airbus has filed plans for Concorde Mark 2, a supersonic jet that could fly from London to New York in an hour, while Boston based Spike Aerospace hopes to have a supersonic jet in the skies by the 2020s. 

The worst seat on the plane set to get better 

The middle seat on an aeroplane is equivalent to the seventh circle of hell.But, with any luck, it's about to get better.A new seating concept aims to speed up the boarding and subsequent exiting of a plane, could revolutionise air trave forever. 

The Side Slip Seat, developed by Hank Scott of Molon Labe Designs, consists of aisle seats which slide on top of middle seats, creating more room while getting on and off-board. To accommodate this, the middle seat is set lower and a few inches back, giving occupants room more elbow room. This design is yet to be certified for use in a commercial aircraft./The Independent