Lviv Airlines to pay $1.6 million to each of the families of two passengers who died in the 1997 crash, while relatives of remaining victims wait
ed in Greece in 1997 to pay 613 million drachmas ($1.6 million) to each of the families of two Greek passengers.
All 62 passengers and eight crew died in the crash.
The court in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki ruled in favor of the two claims against Lviv Airlines, which owned the Yakovlev 42 and was responsible for its maintenance, court officials said. The plane had been chartered by AeroSvit.
It was the first ruling in scores of lawsuits by relatives of the victims which may take up to three years to go through the courts. The court issued its decision on Tuesday and it was made available to the press on Wednesday.
The Russian-made plane flying from Kyiv to Thessaloniki vanished from radar screens shortly before landing. It took hundreds of rescue workers and Greek soldiers almost a week to find the wreckage on a snow-covered slope of Mount Olympus.
The Ukrainian-based AeroSvit also faces lawsuits from relatives of the victims, who were mostly Greeks returning home for Christmas, in separate trials which are expected to begin in a few months.
A Greek aviation investigation pointed to several reasons for the crash, including pilot error, and said the plane did not fulfill international flight capability regulations.
