Air France and its insurers are suing Continental Airlines over its alleged role in the Concorde disaster that killed 113 people on July 25th, a spokeswoman for the French airline said yesterday.
French investigators believe a metal strip which had fallen off a Continental DC-10 punctured one of Concorde's tyres during its takeoff from Paris airport, hurling chunks of rubber into its fuel tanks and sparking the blaze.
"A piece from a Continental Airlines plane caused the Concorde accident," the Air France spokeswoman said. She added that under the civil aviation legal code, airlines were responsible for damage caused by any pieces which fell off their aircraft. A lawyer representing relatives of 20 of the mostly German victims of the Concorde accident said he would also sue Continental Airlines for damages.
The Air France Concorde burst into flames as it roared down the runway of Charles de Gaulle airport. Unable to abort takeoff, the pilot struggled in vain to control the supersonic jet before it plunged into a nearby hotel, killing all aboard and four people on the ground.
French and British aviation authorities last month withdrew Concorde's airworthiness certificate, saying a burst tyre should not be able to bring a plane down. While Air France has said it will compensate the families of those killed, the airline's insurers have declined to name any compensation sum and German lawyers are pushing for a settlement in the United States, where courts order higher pay-outs.