The price of Air France’s shares bounced back after the Concorde crash outside of Paris on Tuesday, July 25


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	Air France Stocks Stabilize After Falling By Mary Motta Senior Business Correspondent posted: 07:00 pm ET 26 July 2000

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The price of Air France’s shares bounced back after falling close to 7 percent in the wake of the Concorde crash outside of Paris, which killed 113 people on Tuesday, July 25.

When European stock markets closed Wednesday, Air France shares ended at $18.14 (19.50 Euros), up 1 percent from an opening price of $16.81 (18.80 Euros). Price of Air France shares were at $18.79 (20.20 Euros) immediately before the crash, and fell to $16.74 (18.00 Euros) when trading was briefly suspended after news of the crash got out Tuesday.

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On Wednesday, the Euro was trading at 93 cents.

French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot reassured French traders that the future of the Corcorde had not been thrown into doubt by the accident.

"The aircraft is not at the end of its career," he said Tuesday in hopes of quelling market gyrations.

On Wednesday, Gayssot further reassured the markets saying that grounded Concorde flown by Air France might be able to resume service in the next few days.

Gayssot told a news conference that he hoped an analysis of data from the doomed Concorde's two black boxes would be available within 24 hours.

"The two black boxes are being analyzed. Investigators worked all last night, all today, and they are going to work all tonight. I hope we will have the analysis tomorrow night," he said.

The French carrier's five remaining Concordes were withdrawn from operations on Tuesday night while an investigation was launched into the crash.

British Airways (BA), the only other carrier to operate Concordes, resumed its supersonic services on Wednesday after canceling two flights on Tuesday in the aftermath of the Paris crash.

"We believe there is no technical, safety or operational evidence to suggest that Concorde should not operate safely in the future," said Mike Street, BA's director of customer services and operations.

Shares in British Airways rose more than 2 percent in London on Wednesday morning after it announced that it had resumed its scheduled Concorde flights to the U.S. Shares of British Airways closed Wednesday unchanged at 60 Euros.