The Concorde aircraft used in the film first flew on January 31 , 1975 , and was registered as F-WTSC to the Aérospatiale aircraft company . It would be re-registered by Aérospatiale as F-BTSC and leased to Air France in 1976 . In 1989 , this Concorde carried Pope John Paul II . On July 25 , 2000 , F-BTSC , as Air France Flight 4590 , crashed in the small French town of Gonesse , killing all 109 passengers and crew on board , as well as four on the ground . At the time of the accident , F-BTSC had logged 11,989 hours and 4,873 cycles
Air France Flight 4590
Air France Flight 4590
The Concorde ... Airport '79