The aircraft is a De Havilland DH106 Comet 4C.
Near the beginning of the movie, the Swissair Convair CV-990 (# HB-ICD) in the background while the pilots are walking on the tarmac was a regularly scheduled flight, Swissair Flight SR330, from Zurich International Airport to Hong Kong. On February 21, 1970, a bomb, put on the plane by the Palestinian terror group PFLP-GC, was detonated causing the plane to crash, killing all 47 passengers and crew.