A French judge has ordered US carrier Continental Airlines and five individuals to stand trial over the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people.

The judge said on July 3 that the defendants would be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The Concorde crashed in flames minutes after take-off from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris on July 25, 2000, killing all 109 aboard and four people on the ground.

Investigations concluded a thin strip of metal had fallen onto the runway from a Continental flight. This burst a tyre on the departing Concorde, sending shrapnel into its oil tanks and causing them to catch fire.