US-BASED Continental Airlines. has been convicted of manslaughter over the deaths of 113 people in the Concorde crash outside Paris 10 years ago and ordered to pay 1,2-million euros ($1,6-million) in damages and fines.
“There is an ‘incontestable link’; between the ‘negligence’ of Continental and the fireball that brought down the supersonic jet on July 25, 2000, ignited when its tyre ran over a piece of metal from one of the US carrier’s planes during takeoff,” Judge Dominique Andreassier said in Pontoise, France.
The verdict, delivered seven years after Concorde’s last commercial takeoff, “will send a shock wave across the industry” and could lead to pilots and mechanics “clamming up for fear of criminal prosecution,” said Kenneth Quinn, an expert in aviation law.
The crash hastened the demise of Concorde, with flights grounded for 16 months after the disaster and the plane returning to service as demand for air travel fell following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Bookings never fully recovered on the 1350 mile-per-hour airliner.
Continental must pay a 200,000 euro fine and 1 million euros to Air France-KLM Group, operator of the doomed flight.
Continental, which has its main hub in Houston, said the verdict was “absurd” and that “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.”
Continental mechanic John Taylor also received a 15-month suspended sentence and a 2,000-euro fine after the court ruled he ignored the risk of using the wrong materials in maintenance.
