Continental Airlines Inc. was convicted of manslaughter for the deaths of 113 people in the Concorde crash 10 years ago outside Paris and ordered to pay 1.2 million euros ($1.6 million) in damages and fines.

Continental’s negligence caused the fireball that brought down the plane, ignited when the supersonic jet’s tire ran over a piece of metal debris from an earlier flight by the U.S. air carrier, a court in Pontoise, France, said yesterday. The airline must pay a 200,000 euro fine and 1 million euros to Air France- KLM Group, operator of the Concorde flight.

There was an “incontestable link” between the “negligence of Continental Airlines” and the “catastrophe of July 25, 2000,” Judge Dominique Andreassier said.

The verdict comes seven years after the Concorde’s last commercial take-off, the program’s end hastened by the crash. Flights were grounded for 16 months after the disaster and the plane returned to service as air travel demand dropped off following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Traffic never recovered on the 1,350 mile-per-hour plan plane, favored by celebrities including Princess Diana and former Beatle Paul McCartney.

Olivier Metzner, a lawyer for Continental, said the ruling was “political” and the airline would appeal. Continental called the verdict “absurd.” “It is a political decision, a decision that comforts all the French actors,” said Metzner. “Once again, it is the French interests that are of concern.”

“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,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.

The airline, which has its main hub in Houston, merged in October with United Airlines to form United Continental Holdings Inc., the world’s largest carrier.

John Taylor, a Continental mechanic, was also found guilty and received a 15 month suspended sentence and a 2,000-euro fine.

Air France was awarded 1 million euros in damages, after seeking as much as 15 million euros. The company resolved claims by victims’ families soon after the accident.

The court ruled Taylor ignored the risks of using the wrong materials in maintenance of a jet. It cleared three French aviation officials, Henri Perrier, Claude Frantzen and Jacques Herubel, and Continental manager, Stanley Ford, of wrongdoing.

French investigator BEA issued its final report on the crash in 2002, saying the plane hit a piece of metal from a Continental plane that had taken off earlier. The strip tore into Concorde’s wheel, sending debris into fuel tanks, sparking a fire. The danger posed by exploding tires, noted after five incidents in 1979 and two in 1993, was also faulted in the report. Metzner disputed the findings during the four-month trial, saying the investigation ignored witnesses who said the plane was already on fire when it hit the debris. The court rejected his arguments today.

The court found European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. civilly liable in the accident. The court said Perrier and Herubel, who were employees of EADS France, should have “undertaken a fuller examination of the possible consequences of a fuel leakage resulting from the perforation of the lower surface of a fuel tank after a tire burst.”

Jacques Rocca, a spokesman for EADS unit Airbus, said the company reserved the possibility of an appeal. “The civil decision is a surprising one, however, because there’s no link established between the accident and reasons for the court condemning EADS in a civil action,” he said.

ΠΗΓΗ: TravelDailyNews.com