Suits Between AirTran, SabreTech Settled

AirTran Airways, the low-cost airline once known as ValuJet, and SabreTech, a former maintenance contractor for ValuJet, have settled multimillion-dollar lawsuits over the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 into the Florida Everglades that killed all 110 people on board. Orlando-based AirTran said it will receive an unspecified cash payment and added that none of the parties to the lawsuit admitted fault or liability. Terms of the settlement agreement were confidential, it said. SabreTech is part of privately held Sabreliner Corp., based in St. Louis. The ValuJet DC-9 crashed into the Everglades near Miami shortly after takeoff May 11, 1996. Investigators found that oxygen generators loaded into its forward cargo hold sparked a fire that sent the plane out of control. They said SabreTech mishandled and mislabeled the canisters, which are used in airplanes’ emergency breathing systems. Several other cases related to the deadly crash remain outstanding.