Continential Airlines will appeal against a French court ruling that blamed it for the Concorde crash in Paris ten years ago that killed 113 people.
The airline told Reuters news agency that the ruling was “absurd”.
The carrier along with one of its mechanics John Taylor shouldered the blame this week for the catastrophe after the court just outside Paris agreed with the theory that a titanium strip left on the runway by a Continential DC-10 burst a Concorde tyre which caused an explosion.
Found guilty of manslaughter, it was ordered to pay €1.2 in fines and charges while Taylor, who fitted the titanium part on the DC-10, was given a 15-month suspended sentence and also found guilty of manslaughter.
Reuters says Continental’s lawyer Francois Esclatine said: “I do not understand how my client could be considered to have sole responsibility for the Concorde crash."
by Dinah Hatch
