Runway debris may be from Continental Airlines aircraft

Airline Industry Information, Sept 5, 2000

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Continental Airlines is co-operating with French accident investigators working on the 25 July Air France Concorde crash after it was revealed that the scrap piece of metal that may have punctured the Concorde's tyre could have come from one of its aircraft.

A Continental Airlines DC-10 jet aircraft apparently took off from the same runway as the Concorde at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport just minutes before flight 4590.

French accident investigators apparently indicated on 1 September that they wished to inspect the Continental Airlines aircraft in question and did so in Houston, USA on 2 September. The inspection, which was carried out with representatives from the carrier, the US Federal Aviation Administration and the US National Transportation Safety Board, revealed that 'a piece of a metal strip, similar in shape to the piece of metal found on the runway in Paris, was missing' from the aircraft's right-wing engine according to a statement issued by Continental Airlines.

However, it had not been definitively determined that the piece found on the runway was the strip missing from the aircraft according to the Wall Street Journal.

In related news, Air France is not anticipating an early reintroduction of Concorde services and will expand its subsonic transatlantic business class service by adding an extra daily flight on the Paris-New York route from 1 November.

Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the CEO for Air France, has apparently given an indication that Concorde services could be restored by May 2001 according to the Associated Press. Gourgeon stated however that experts investigating the accident have not made any recommendations and that May would 'be the earliest possible date.'

The crash of Air France flight 4590 killed 109 people onboard the aircraft and four people on the ground.

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