Airline blasts Concorde crash verdict
A Paris court has said Continental Airlines was "criminally responsible" for the crash of a Concorde supersonic jet 10 years ago, and fined it 200,000 euros.
Continental, which has also been ordered to pay 1m euros to the jet’s operator Air France, has called the verdict "absurd".
A Continental mechanic, John Taylor, has been given a 15-month suspended prison sentence over the crash.
Continental said it will appeal the verdict which "only protects French interests".
"We strongly disagree with the court’s verdict regarding Continental Airlines and John Taylor and will, of course, appeal this absurd finding," a spokesman for the airline said in a statement.
The Concorde caught fire shortly after take-off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in July 2000, killing 113 people.
The court ruled that the crash was caused by a piece of metal left on the runway after falling from a Continental jet. Investigators said this caused a tyre-burst in the jet, which in turn ruptured a fuel tank.
Continental had disputed this interpretation, saying the airliner, operated by Air France, was already in flames before it hit the small piece of titanium.
Continental said that portraying the metal strip as the cause of the accident, and Continental and one of its employees as the sole guilty parties, "shows the determination of the French authorities to shift attention and blame away from Air France, which was government-owned at the time and operated and maintained the aircraft, as well as from the French authorities responsible for the Concorde’s airworthiness and safety".
"To find that any crime was committed in this tragic accident is not supported either by the evidence at trial or by aviation authorities and experts around the world," Continental said.
Ian Jarrett
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