Trial of Continental Airlines ordered in French jet crash

A judge has ordered Continental Airlines and five people to stand trial on manslaughter charges in the 2000 crash of a Concorde jetliner that killed 113 people, a prosecutor said Thursday.

French investigators say the crash was caused in part by a titanium strip that dislodged from a Continental Airlines DC-10 and was lying on the runway as the supersonic Concorde took off.

The judge’s order outlines eight years of painstaking efforts to try to pin down who exactly could be tried in court.

Two of the people to stand trial are employees of Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc., said a statement from the office of Marie-Therese de Givry, prosecutor in the Paris suburb of Pontoise.

Two others were employed by Aerospatiale, the maker of Concorde and the precursor of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The fifth is an employee of the French civilian aviation authority.

Continental lashed out at the French courts Thursday.

“These indictments are outrageous and completely unjustified,” said spokeswoman Julie King. “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.”

The Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport in July 2000, killing all 109 people on board -- mostly German tourists -- and four on the ground when it slammed into a hotel.

French investigators have said a metal strip from the Continental airplane caused one of the Concorde’s tires to burst. Debris from the rupture punctured the jet’s fuel tanks.

The French judicial inquiry also determined the tanks lacked sufficient protection from shock -- and that Concorde’s makers had been aware of the problem since 1979.

The tragedy forced modifications to the aircraft before it was taken out of service in 2003.

The flight, which was headed to New York, was the only fatal crash involving a Concorde.