Spanair loses 52 million euros after Madrid air crash (Roundup)

Oct 7, 2008, 14:21 GMT

Madrid - The Spanish airline Spanair has lost 51.7 million euros (70 million dollars) in ticket since after its MD-82 jetliner crashed in Madrid on August 20, killing 154 people, its mother -carrier SAS said Tuesday.

Spanair transported 680,000 passengers in September, 25.4 per cent less than during the same month in 2007. Demand went down 20.8 per cent.

However, demand had gradually recovered and was now back to normal, SAS said in a communique made public in Madrid.

A US judge meanwhile ordered the aircraft maker Boeing to hand over all available technical information on the crash plane, Spanish press reports said.

A US law firm has filed a complaint against Boeing and its subsidiary McDonnell Douglas in the name of 18 families that lost members in the accident.

The judicial proceedings started Monday in the US state of Illinois, where Boeing has its headquarters.

Ribbeck Law Chartered was initially seeking technical information on the plane in order to decide how to proceed, lawyers representing the law firm were quoted as saying.

The lawyers want to find out which company made the wing flaps that were not deployed on take-off and may have contributed to the accident, according to a preliminary report by an investigating commission that was leaked to the Spanish press.

The flaps help to lift aircraft on take-off.

If the flaps were not made by Boeing or its subsidiaries, the court case could be extended to the company that manufactured them, lawyers said.

Judge Ronald Davis gave Boeing six weeks to provide the requested information.

The MD-82 crashed after take-off at Madrid airport. Eighteen people survived the accident.