Overview

• On July 24, relatives of the 113 victims and former crew members gathered at the Concorde memorial at Charles de Gaulle Airport for a wreath-laying to mark the crash’s 25th anniversary.
• French investigators determined that a 40-centimetre metal strip lost by a Continental Airlines jet punctured a tyre on Flight 4590, sending debris into a wing tank that ignited.
• The fully fuelled supersonic jet lost thrust in its two left engines during the emergency climb, failed to reach Paris–Le Bourget, and crashed into a hotel in Gonesse, killing 109 on board and four on the ground.
• Air France and British Airways immediately grounded their Concorde fleets, briefly resumed service with safety modifications in 2001, and retired the aircraft in 2003 as passenger numbers collapsed.
• A French appeals court acquitted Continental Airlines of criminal liability, while about 700 relatives received compensation totaling hundreds of millions of euros.