Paris court finds Continental 'criminally responsible' for Concorde crash

FRENCH court fines Continental Airlines and mechanic $270,000 for Concorde jet crash which killed 113 people ten years ago.

On July 25, 2000, Air France Concorde flight 4590 takes off with fire trailing from its engine on the left wing from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris / AP / Toshihiko Sato

A FRENCH court probing the Concorde crash has ruled that Continental Airlines was "criminally responsible" for the disaster outside Paris ten years ago and fined $270,000.

The Air France aircraft crashed in July 2000, killing all 109 people on board, mostly German tourists, and four people on the ground, minutes after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

French prosecutors claimed the New York-bound plane was brought down by a strip of titanium metal that had fallen off a Continental DC10 aircraft onto the runway and burst a tire on the Concorde, which in turn hurled debris into the fuel tank and caused a fire.

Lawyers for Houston-based Continental Airlines argued the Concorde was already on fire before it hit the metal strip.

The mechanic who fitted the metal strip, John Taylor, was held to be responsible also, though his supervisor, who approved the repair, was not found guilty. Taylor was also given a 15-month suspended jail term.

Continental announced shortly after the verdict, which they described as "absurd", that it would appeal the guilty ruling.

"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.

"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."

Three French aviation officials facing similar charges were found not guilty. They had been accused of failing to draw lessons from exploding tire incidents that dogged Concorde as far back as 1979.

Design changes were made to strengthen the tires but not the fuel tanks.

However their employer, the European aerospace group EADS, was found guilty of civil liability for the catastrophe and was ordered to pay 30 percent of any damages awarded to the victims' families.

The four-month hearing in Pontoise, northwest of Paris, focused on blame, rather than financial compensation.

Lawyers for families of the victims reached a settlement several years ago with insurance companies representing Air France, now a unit of Air France-KLM SA, as well as successors to the Concorde's French state-owned producer, Aerospatiale. Terms of that settlement were not disclosed.

A separate suit by Air France against Continental seeking €15 million ($20.2 million) in damages is on hold pending the outcome of the criminal trial.