Date: 1/12/2009
PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors say the manslaughter trial of Continental Airlines and five people over the 2000 crash of a Concorde jet that killed 113 people will begin outside Paris next year.
They said Monday the trial is set to open Feb. 2, 2010, in the Paris suburb of Pontoise, and should last until the following May.
The Air France Concorde crashed into a hotel after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport in July 2000, killing all 109 people on board — mostly German tourists — and four on the ground.
Investigators say the crash was caused in part by a titanium strip from a Continental DC-10 that was on the runway when the Concorde took off.
Employees of Continental, the Concorde’s maker and France’s civilian aviation authority are to stand trial.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.