Concorde verdict 'absurd': Continental

Continental Airlines criticised today's "absurd" verdict by a French court which fined the carrier over the 2000 Concorde crash in which 113 people died, and confirmed it would appeal, AFP reported.

The US airline said the court ruling was aimed at shifting blame away from Air France and French aviation authorities.

"We strongly disagree with the court's verdict regarding Continental Airlines and John Taylor and will of course appeal this absurd finding," a spokesman for the airline said in a statement.

The court fined the airline 200,000 euros ($350,000) and gave Continental employee John Taylor a 15-month suspended jail sentence for having incorrectly manufactured and installed a piece of metal that fell from a Continental DC-10.

The titanium strip left on the runway of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport later shredded the supersonic jet's tyre, which led to a fire in the fuel tank.

"Portraying the metal strip as the cause of the accident and Continental and one of its employees as the sole guilty parties shows the determination of the French authorities to shift attention and blame away from Air France, which was government-owned at the time and operated and maintained the aircraft, as well as from the French authorities responsible for the Concorde's airworthiness and safety," it said.

"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 around the world.", AFP reported.

CONCORDE - A TIMELINE

2010: A court in Pontoise, north of Paris, convicts Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics, John Taylor, of manslaughter in the 2000 Concorde crash. The court says Continental was to blame because one of its planes dropped metal debris onto the runway before the Concorde took off, rupturing one of its tires and sending rubber into the fuel tanks, sparking a fire.

2003: Air France and British Airways both retire their Concordes. One Air France Concorde goes on show at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

2001: Overhauled Concordes return to service two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, in the middle of one of aviation's worst slumps.

2000: An Air France Concorde crashes after takeoff from Paris on July 25, killing 113 people and forcing both airlines to ground their supersonic jets for over a year.

1984: Britain and France stop underwriting the Concorde's costs, and the two airlines take responsibility.

1976: The Concorde begins commercial service at Air France and British Airways. It is hailed as a technological marvel, but its economics are shaky and it never makes back the billions of tax dollars invested in it. Protests emerge about its noise and lack of fuel economy during an oil crisis.

1969: The plane lifts off from Toulouse, France, for its first test flight.

1962: Manufacturers in France and Britain agree to cooperate, along with engine builders from both countries.

1950s: The idea of a supersonic passenger plane gains momentum after legendary US aviator Chuck Yeager's 1947 blast through the sound barrier.

-AP, AGENCIES