Italy airline staff convicted for rerouting plane

MILAN, June 5 (Reuters) A Milan court handed out suspended jail sentences to two managers and a pilot at Italian airline AirOne for re-directing a flight without telling passengers until they were on board.

In a first for Italy, they were found guilty of aggravated fraud for not alerting passengers about the change of destination.

In July 2004 passengers on a late night plane from Milan to the Sardinian city of Cagliari were told mid-flight they would land in Alghero instead, on the other side of the island.

The reason given was that because the flight was delayed, it could not land in Cagliari where the runway was closed at night for maintenance.

The next day, some passengers decided to sue the airline.

''Passengers are thinking human beings and not merchandise,'' prosecutor Marco Ghezzi told the court. ''They are people whose rights have to be respected.'' The airline's lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.

Reuters AM DB2131