
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990                   TAG: 9005100144
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: PARIS                                LENGTH: Medium

CONCORDE MAKERS PLANNING TO BUILD TWICE THE PLANE

If Henri Martre has his way, passengers will climb aboard a sleek new aircraft in New York shortly after the turn of the millennium and land two and a half hours later in Paris. The next day the same passenger might get on a similar plane and step off 6,000 miles and six hours later in Tokyo.

The makers of the Concorde, the world's first supersonic passenger plane, want to shrink the world even more for international travelers by building Concorde II - bigger, faster and a commercial success.

An accord aimed at producing a new generation of the supersonic airliner was signed Wednesday by France's Aerospatiale and British Aerospace. It was designed to put the two European aeronautic firms in the forefront of planning here and in the United States for continent-spanning supersonic air travel for a wide market of businessmen and tourists early in the next century.

"We are the only ones who can talk about it based on experience," said Martre, Aerospatiale's chief executive officer, as he announced the agreement to pool feasibility studies on a new aircraft.

Aerospatiale, which is owned almost entirely by the French government, and the privately owned British Aerospace jointly produced the Concorde, the sleek, swept-wing airliner which first began service in 1976. It is flown daily between Europe and the United States by Air France and British Airways.

Although hailed as a technological triumph, the Concorde was snubbed by U.S. and other airlines. A high purchase price and fuel consumption rate, coupled with a small passenger load and problems with anti-noise regulations in the United States, raised questions about whether it could operate at a profit without government subsidies. Air France and British Airways have reported profits in recent years but without counting government outlays for development costs.

Aerospatiale and British Aerospace will seek financial and commercial participation in the next-generation Concorde by U.S., German, Japanese and even Soviet enterprises, Martre said. He mentioned in particular Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. as possible partners.

by CNB