Fears Concorde attraction in Bristol will close

The Concorde visitor attraction in Bristol is to be closed in October for maintenance leading to fears that it could be shut down permanently.

Oliver Dearden, of the Bristol Aero Collection, which manages public tours for Airbus, said he was concerned about the uncertainty.

He said: "We don't know how long it's going to be away. We don't know whether we have to close down."

Airbus said the plane would move into a hangar until further notice.

'Staff redundant'

Mr Dearden said: "We were told in February that it was likely that Concorde would close to the public in the autumn in order for some essential maintenance to be undertaken and this would require the plane to move into a hangar.

"Our problem is that we do have two paid staff and I have to sort out in the next couple of weeks whether or not to take steps to make them redundant.

"When Concorde came back [to Bristol] in 2003, we entered into an arrangement with Airbus whereby we would run the public tours with volunteers and we've hopefully done that successfully for six years.

"Airbus maintain the aircraft and every Monday a team of their engineers have the aircraft for the day. We then show the public round - five or six days a week."

A spokesman for Airbus said: "It is being closed in the autumn for maintenance and inspection which is required as part of the contract.

"There is no opening date as we have to see what maintenance needs to be done - until we know we can't give any certainty."