American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) and United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) have reached a USD95.2 million settlement with the World Trade Center developer regarding the airlines' alleged oversights ahead of the September 11 attacks, Reuters has reported.

On September 11, 2001, a United B767-200, operating as UA175 from Boston to Los Angeles International, was hijacked and flown into the WTC's South Tower, while an American B767-200, operating the same route as AA11, was deliberately flown into the North Tower. In total, 155 people died onboard the two aircraft along with 2,606 in and around the towers.

In the list of lawsuits that followed, the two airlines and other aviation defendants were accused by Larry Silverstein and his Silverstein Properties of security negligence which led to the hijacking of the United and American Airlines' aircraft, which were then flown into the World Trade Center towers causing their collapse. The 13-year-long suit ended with neither of the airlines admitting guilt.

The payout will be covered by the airlines' insurers and would have totalled USD97 million, were it not for two insurers going insolvent before the settlement, Reuters reported.

The settlement is significantly lower than the USD3.5 billion that Silverstein first sought, according to the Associated Press. The news agency reports the developer, which had signed a 99-year lease for the World Trade Center just six weeks before the attacks, received over USD5 billion from other defendants. This money was used, for among other things, to develop One World Trade Center, opened in 2014, and which is the tallest building in New York.

The settlement must now be approved by the District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.