Air France and its insurers are suing US company Continental Airlines over its possible role in the July Concorde disaster that killed 113 people, a spokeswoman for the French carrier said yesterday.
French investigators believe a strip of metal fell off a Continental DC-10 at a Paris airport and subsequently punctured a wheel on the doomed Air France Concorde during its take-off, triggering the fiery crash.
''A piece from a Continental Airlines plane could have caused the Concorde accident according to the (official) inquiry,'' the Air France spokeswoman said, adding that airlines were legally responsible for any parts that drop off their aircraft.
A lawyer representing relatives of 20 of the victims of the Concorde accident is planning similar legal action against the US airline.
Continental said on Tuesday it was aware litigation was being prepared against it, but investigations had so far yielded no definite proof it was linked to the crash.
Air France and its insurer, the Reunion Aerienne consortium, lodged their suit at a court in Pontoise, outside Paris, which is handling the legal side of the disaster.
An insurance source said that Reunion Aerienne wanted Continental to cover all costs involved in the disaster - a bill that could run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
German lawyer Christof Wellens said yesterday he would file a suit against Continental in Houston, its US home base, on behalf of the relatives.
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