Airline defendants to pay $95 million in 9/11 settlement

Insurers for defendants including American Airlines and United Airlines have agreed to pay $95 million to settle claims that security lapses led planes to be hijacked in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The settlement was described in papers filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. Developers of the new World Trade Center buildings had once demanded $3.5 billion from aviation companies after hijacked planes destroyed three skyscrapers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Developer Larry Silverstein and World Trade Center Properties have collected over $5 billion from other defendants through numerous lawsuits. The money has aided the reconstruction of buildings on the 16-acre lower Manhattan site.

Earlier settlements included $135 million paid to a financial services firm that lost two-thirds of its employees.