The trial over the only crash involving a Concorde airliner started proceedings on Feb. 2, 10 years after the tragedy that claimed 114 lives.

U.S. Continental Airlines and five individuals blamed for the crash, which killed 109 people aboard and four on the ground, are facing manslaughter charges at the court room in Pontoise, on the northwestern outskirts of Paris.

Public prosecutors claim Continental Airlines should be responsible for a metal strip left on the runway by one of its DC-10s, which took off before the Concorde. The piece of metal punctured a tyre on the Concorde, which led to its crash.

The five individual defendants include two technicians for Continental Airlines. Two Concorde former employees are also standing trial and the fifth defendant was working for France's civil aviation watchdog at the time.

In July 2000, the Air France Concorde flight crashed into a hotel and exploded minutes after taking off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, killing all passengers, most of whom were German, nine French crew members and four people in the hotel.

Lawyers for the Houston-based U.S. airline and other defendants had pleaded for the case to be dropped, saying the present documents excluded counterweights to the accusation, as was required in other suits.

In December 2004, a judicial investigation found a strip of metal punctured one of the Concorde's tyres and the tyre debris holed a fuel tank causing the fire.

Continental attorney Oliver Metzener said the crash had nothing to do with the airline and he would prove the Concorde was on fire before it struck the metal strip.

Air France, which reportedly had paid most victims' families compensation, is not facing any charges.

The trial is expected to last four months and the defendants face penalties of up to five years in prison and a EUR75,000 (US$104,000) fine. However, observers predicted that suspended prison sentences were more likely in this case.

Concorde flights were grounded for over a year after the crash and returned to service with reinforced fuel tanks in late 2001. Air France and British Airways retired all Concorde fleets in 2003.