France: Air France and Airbus convicted of involuntary manslaughter for 2009 Rio-Paris flight crash, justice for the 228 victims
Seventeen years after France's biggest aviation tragedy, a Paris Court of Appeal on Thursday convicted Air France and Airbus of involuntary manslaughter in the crash of flight AF447, which killed 228 people. The two companies were declared "solely responsible" for the incident and received the maximum fine of 225,000 euros each.
An aircraft from the Air France fleet, model Boeing 777 (File).
French courts found Air France and Airbus guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday for the crash of flight AF447, the biggest tragedy in French aviation, which occurred 17 years ago.
The Court of Appeal in Paris overturned the first-instance acquittal judgment of April 2023 and condemned both companies as "solely responsible" for the incident that cost the lives of 228 people. It also imposed the maximum fine: 225,000 euros (about $260,000) on each.
World
Scandal in France: Investigation into possible sexual abuse in 84 preschools in Paris
Carlos Dominguez
The decision was welcomed by the victims' relatives. Danièle Lamy, president of the Entraide et Solidarité AF 447 association, stressed in statements picked up by AFP that "for the first time multinational aviation companies are condemned and safety is placed above any other economic consideration."
The accident that shocked the world
The black boxes revealed that the crash originated from the freezing of the Pitot probes (speed sensors) while the plane was crossing an area of heavy storms near the equator. This resulted in a loss of speed data, pilot disorientation and a series of incorrect maneuvers that ended in crashing the aircraft.
Unforgivable failures: This is how the court condemned Airbus and Air France
The court considered it proven that both Airbus and Air France committed serious failures that directly contributed to the accident.
On the one hand, Airbus underestimated the seriousness of the recurring problems with the Pitot probes and failed to take urgent measures or to adequately inform the user airlines. Moreover, Air France did not provide its pilots with sufficient training on how to act when faced with the freezing of these probes nor did it properly inform its crews.
Although at first instance the judges recognized "imprudence and negligence" but found no certain causal link, the Public Prosecutor's Office changed its position and appealed for a criminal conviction. The Court of Appeal agreed with him.
Opprobrium and warning
Airbus immediately announced that it would appeal the sentence to the Court of Cassation, the French Supreme Court. Their lawyer, Simon Ndiaye, called the decision "outside Justice and the law."
For their part, prosecutors Rodolphe Juy-Birmann and Agnès Labreuil were particularly harsh during the trial: "This conviction will cast opprobrium on these two companies. It must ring out as a warning," they said, also criticizing the lack of "a single word of sincere consolation" from the companies.
Seventeen years later, the families of the 228 victims of AF447 are finally getting a criminal acknowledgment that many have been waiting for since 2009.
LATEST
