CAL told to pay damages in Nagoya

A Japanese court yesterday ordered China Airlines (華航) to pay ?177 million (US$1.6 million) in damages to the family of a man killed in the 1994 crash in Nagoya which claimed the lives of 263 others.

But the Nagoya District Court in central Japan, dismissed a damages claim against European aircraft manufacturing consortium Airbus that the plane had design flaws which led to the crash at Nagoya Airport.

The litigation, filed by two relatives of the unidentified crash victim, then 42, demanding ?300 million, was one of a series of lawsuits filed separately by bereaved families.

China Airlines' office in Tokyo declined to comment on the ruling, which followed a court order last December for a total of ?5.03 billion in redress to 236 relatives who had refused to agree to an out-of-court settlement.

The earlier ruling said at the Nagoya court said the way the aircraft had been flown was "utterly reckless" while recognizing no fault on the part of Airbus.

Twenty-seven relatives have appealed that ruling.

On April 26, 1994, the Airbus A300-600R passenger jet plummeted to the ground at Nagoya airport, about 350km west of Tokyo, killing 264 passengers and crew members out of 271 on board. An investigation found that crew errors led to the aircraft stalling and crashing during the approach to the airport.