Rio-Paris flight crash in 2009: Airbus and Air France found guilty of manslaughter on appeal
They had been acquitted at the conclusion of the first trial into this accident, the deadliest in the history of French airlines, which killed 228 people in 2009.
Judicial reversal: Air France and Airbus convicted on appeal for the AF447 crash
Seventeen years after the catastrophe, the Paris Court of Appeal found Air France and Airbus guilty of manslaughter on Thursday 21 May. According to France Info, the two companies were judged to be "solely and entirely responsible" for the crash of flight AF447, the deadliest in the history of French civil aviation.
On 1 June 2009, the Airbus A330 registered F-GZCP, which was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the night, a few hours after take-off. All 216 passengers and 12 crew members had perished. On board were nationals of 33 countries, including 72 French and 58 Brazilians.
Maximum fines, largely symbolic in scope
The conviction is essentially symbolic in nature. As legal entities, Air France and Airbus each received the maximum penalty provided for this type of offence, namely a fine of 225,000 euros. In the first trial, both companies had been acquitted.
The Court of Appeal thus followed the prosecutorial recommendations, overturning the first-instance judgment.
The failings upheld by the court
Air France was found guilty of failing to implement appropriate pilot training for dealing with icing situations on Pitot probes — external sensors measuring the aircraft's airspeed. The court also reproached the company for failing to adequately inform its crews. "The pilots were not prepared for the situation they encountered," the court declared, according to the France Info journalist present at the hearing. The airline has consistently contested these criticisms.
Airbus was condemned for underestimating the severity of failures in the airspeed probes and for failing to urgently alert the airlines equipped with these devices. The manufacturer also disputes this analysis.
Appeals to the Court of Cassation announced
Outside the courtroom, Airbus's lawyer criticised a conviction "that responds to considerations that have nothing to do with justice, with law, with safety". The manufacturer announced it would appeal to the Court of Cassation. A few hours later, Air France indicated it had made the same choice, saying it "regretted" the judgment.
Victims' families welcome the decision
On the side of the civil parties, the reaction is the opposite. "A page has turned," they declared. Danièle Lamy, president of the Mutual Aid and Solidarity AF 447 association, welcomed a decision that "for the first time, condemns multinational aerospace companies and places safety above any other economic consideration".
Throughout both trials, Airbus and Air France had strenuously denied any criminal responsibility. The case will now proceed before the Court of Cassation.
Source: France Info