Air France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter over 2009 plane crash
Air France and aircraft manufacturer Airbus have been found guilty of manslaughter in relation to the 2009 crash of flight AF447, which claimed the lives of 228 people.
The Paris Appeals Court ruled that both companies were responsible for corporate manslaughter over the disaster, in which the flight travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down in the Atlantic Ocean.
Investigators found that the Airbus A330 stalled during severe storm conditions before plunging into the sea, killing everyone on board.
The companies had previously been acquitted in April 2023, but that decision was overturned following an appeal.
The aircraft disappeared from radar during the storm, prompting an extensive search operation covering about 10,000 square kilometres of the ocean floor before wreckage was eventually discovered.
The plane’s black boxes were recovered in 2011 after months of deep-sea search efforts.
All 12 crew members and 216 passengers died when the aircraft fell from an altitude of 38,000 feet, marking the deadliest aviation disaster in French history.
Families of some of the victims, mainly French, Brazilian, and German nationals, were present in court to hear the judgment.
The court ordered both companies to pay the maximum fine of €225,000 each, though some relatives of the victims described the penalty as symbolic and insufficient given the scale of the tragedy.
Source: BBC
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