PARIS (AP) - Continental Airlines is calling a French
manslaughter indictment "outrageous and completely unjustified."
A French judge ordered the Houston-based airline and five people
to stand trial for manslaughter in the 2000 crash of a Concorde jet
that killed 113 people.
Two of the people to be tried are Continental employees. Two
others were employed by the SST's maker, French company
Aerospatiale. The fifth is an employee of the French civilian
aviation authority.
The Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from
Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport in July 2000, killing all 109
people on board and four on the ground when it slammed into a
hotel.
French investigators blamed a titanium strip on the runway from
a Continental Airlines DC-10.
Continental spokeswoman Julie King says "Continental remains
firmly convinced that neither it nor its employees were the cause
of the Concorde tragedy and we will defend ourselves vigorously
against these charges."