Officials from U.S.-based Continental Airlines are in a French court to appeal a manslaughter conviction for the deadly crash of a Concorde supersonic jet in 2000.

The trial, which began Thursday outside of Versailles, will re-examine evidence of the crash, as well as take into account the safety record of the plane.

In 2010, a court ruled that Continental and one of its mechanics were responsible for the crash, which was caused when a strip of titanium from one of the company's planes fell onto on a runway used by the ill-fated Concorde jet.

The Air France jet rolled over the metal during take-off, puncturing one of its tires, which subsequently led to a hole in a fuel tank that caught fire.

The Concorde then crashed into a Paris area hotel, killing 113 people.

The court fined Continental $263,000 and ordered it to pay Air France $1.3 million in compensation. But the airline vowed to fight the fine and conviction.