A French appeals court has found Air France and Airbus guilty of corporate manslaughter over the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447 crash, which killed all 228 people on board.
The Airbus A330 aircraft was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm on June 1, 2009. Investigators later concluded that iced-over Pitot tube sensors caused faulty speed readings, contributing to pilot confusion and a fatal aerodynamic stall.
The Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that both companies were “solely and entirely responsible for the crash of flight AF447”, and ordered a payment of 225,000 euros ($261,720) for each passenger, the maximum fine possible for corporate manslaughter.
Prosecutors argued that Airbus underestimated known risks linked to the airspeed sensors, while Air France failed to provide adequate pilot training for handling such emergencies. Victims’ relatives described the verdict as an important acknowledgment of responsibility, even though the fines are relatively small for companies of that size.
Although the penalties are largely symbolic, they capped an eight-week trial that victims’ families saw as a last chance to find justice two years after a lower court acquitted Airbus and Air France.
Both companies have repeatedly denied all charges.
Following the ruling, Airbus said it would appeal to France’s highest court, saying the latest finding contradicted submissions from prosecutors and the 2023 acquittal.
Prosecutors previously warned that an appeal was likely and denounced the companies’ behaviour throughout the decade-plus legal process.
“Nothing has come of it – not a single word of sincere comfort,” said prosecutor Rodolphe Juy-Birmann as the trial was under way last November. “One word sums up this whole circus: indecency.”
The crash led to a complex recovery operation in a remote part of the Atlantic Ocean, more than 700 miles (1127km) from the coast of South America.
During the initial searches, the French government had been responsible for investigating the crash and Brazilian forces took charge of retrieving the bodies.
In the first 26 days of searches, 51 bodies were recovered, many still buckled into their seats.
One family member who spoke to BBC News Brasil in 2019 said he had only been able to bury his son’s remains over two years after the incident.
His son, 40-year-old engineer Nelson Marinho Filho, nearly missed the flight out of Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport and was the last person to board, according to Air France staff.
The passengers came from 33 different countries, including 61 French nationals, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans, two Americans, five Britons and three Irish nationals.
One of the Britons was 11-year-old Alexander Bjoroy from Bristol, who had been returning to the UK via France after spending half-term in Brazil.
Three Irish women – Eithne Walls from County Down, Jane Deasy from County Dublin, and Aisling Butler from Co Tipperary – were also among those killed.
All three were doctors and were returning home from a holiday in Brazil.
Brazilian prince Pedro Luiz de Orleans e Bragança also died in the crash at the age of 26.
Out of the 216 passengers, there were 126 men, 82 women, 7 children and one infant on board.
The 12 members of flight crew were mainly from France, with the exception of one Brazilian.
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