Brazilian TAM airlines said on August 2 that it will pay US$1.5 billion in compensation to people and businesses affected by the July 17 air crash, which killed nearly 200 people.

The compensation will be "sufficient" to cover all the damages and losses caused to people and properties by the accident, said TAM's President Marco Antonio Bologna, adding that his company will ensure that the compensation is paid in full.

"We cannot have our beloved ones back, but we can provide the necessary conditions of support," said Bologna at a hearing of the congressional committee investigating the air disaster.

In response to a question about whether his company had used low-quality equipment, Bologna said the aircraft met safety requirements and was in good condition before it crashed.

He stressed that he would not guess at any possible causes before the committee makes a final decision.

The committee on August 1 released a transcript of the cockpit conversation recorded by the black box flight recorder, suggesting that a mechanism failure or pilot error had contributed to the accident.

The July 17 crash was the deadliest in Brazil's aviation history, when a TAM airlines Airbus A320 crashed into a fuel station and exploded shortly after landing at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, killing nearly 200 people, 187 of whom were onboard the plane.