Air France to compensate Concorde crash relatives

PARIS -- Air France will compensate relatives of all 113 victims of the Concorde crash, including those who were killed on the ground, the airline's Deputy Managing Director Philippe Calavia said Tuesday.

Calavia told a news conference insurance companies were bound to compensate relatives of air crash victims but this was not clear about victims who were not aboard the aircraft.

"Even though it is not spelt out in texts, Air France will also compensate the families of victims who were on the ground," he said.

Four people were killed in a hotel when a Concorde, carrying 100 passengers and nine crew, crashed at Gonesse near Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on July 25.

Air France has said that, besides compensation, it was paying the families of each victim 140,000 francs ($19,400) for the expenses they incurred.

Calavia said Air France had already received $30 million from insurance companies for the loss of the Concorde, one of six in its supersonic fleet.

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