MADRID (Reuters) - Spanair had considered replacing a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jet just an hour before 154 people were killed when it crashed last week, a government minister said on Friday.
But despite a technical problem the airline decided to keeppassengers aboard the 15-year-old jet which shot off the runwayduring takeoff at Madrid airport on August 20 in Spain's worstair disaster in 25 years.
Public Works Minister Magdalena Alvarez told Congress theplane had been due to take off early in the afternoon but leftthe runway after the fault was detected in a temperature gauge.
"The company told the airport that it was consideringchanging the aircraft," Alvarez said, "But later it told theairport control centre that it was keeping it."
Alvarez was summoned before Congress to testify on Spain'sair safety procedures in the wake of the crash, which left 18survivors
She said the aircraft operated by Spanair, which is ownedby Scandanavia's SAS, had been regularly inspected.
(Reporting by Jason Webb; Editing by Caroline Drees)