Appeals court quashes Concorde verdict A French appeals court has cleared Continental Airlines of criminal responsibility for the Concorde crash in July 2000 that left 113 people dead and hastened the end of commercial supersonic travel. However, Continental was told it would have to pay civil damages of €1m to Air France, operator of the Concorde aircraft that crashed shortly after take-off from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris. The US airline and one of its mechanics had been found guilty of involuntary homicide in 2010 by a French judge. He ruled that the crash had happened after the Concorde hit a titanium strip that had fallen off a Continental DC10 jet minutes before. Continental, which described the judgment as "absurd" at the time, had also been fined €200,000 by the criminal court. Both that fine and a suspended prison sentence for the mechanic were overturned by the appeals court on Thursday, which said there was no basis for a criminal conviction. The US airline, which merged with United in 2010, had argued that the Concorde caught fire before it hit the metal strip, and that it was being used to deflect the blame from France's airline industry. The appeals court did not challenge the initial court decision linking the crash to the titanium strip but said this did not justify a charge of involuntary homicide. The Concorde came down on a hotel outside Paris, killing all 100 passengers, the flight crew and four people on the ground. Concorde flights were suspended for 16 months after the crash and resumed only after extensive modifications to the fuel tanks. Air France and British Airways, the only two operators of the supersonic aircraft, grounded it permanently in 2003. United Continental Holdings said on Thursday: "We have long maintained that neither Continental nor its employees were responsible for this tragic event and are satisfied that this verdict was overturned."