Air France and Airbus acquitted over deadly 2009 crash

A French criminal court has acquitted Air France and Airbus of “involuntary manslaughter” in relation to a plane crash that killed all 228 of its passengers and crew more than a decade ago.

The ruling follows a two-month trial during which experts and pilots testified to the court as it examined whether the carrier and manufacturer were legally responsible for mistakes connected to the accident.

The longstanding case revolves around what remains the deadliest crash in the history of Air France when a passenger jet flying to Paris from Rio de Janeiro hit the Atlantic on June 1 2009 after it stalled in a thunderstorm, killing its 216 passengers and 12 crew members. During the accident the external airspeed sensors froze and stalled the A330 jet plane’s autopilot function, forcing pilots to take manual control.

The Paris Court of Justice on Monday said the definite causality between the companies’ mistakes and the accident could not be proven, acquitting them of criminal wrongdoing.

While judges said Airbus had been “imprudent or negligent” about the technical issues affecting the sensors and said Air France had been “imprudent” about the training of its pilots, they said “no certain link of causality” between those errors and the accident “could be proven”.

However, civil liability was found against both companies. A separate trial in September will examine compensation for the families of victims.

Air France said the safety of its passengers and crew was its “absolute priority” as it expressed “its continued trust” in its pilots and flight crews. The French carrier merged with Dutch airline KLM in 2004 but charges have only been brought against the French side of the company.

Airbus said it was committed to “prioritising a safety-first culture across the company and the aviation sector”.

Both groups had in October denied allegations of involuntary manslaughter. The group of 476 plaintiffs, mainly friends and families of victims, was also given a chance to testify in the trial.

“This ruling is an obstacle to grief,” said David Koubbi, a lawyer representing some of the victims’ families, to broadcaster BFM, shortly after the verdict.

The case has been the subject of legal wrangling for more than a decade. Judges in 2019 dropped charges against the companies despite the fact that prosecutors had recommended them. But their decision was overturned in 2021.

Koubbi said the trial, which started in October, established that problems with frozen sensors had been known since 1995 yet “neither Airbus nor Air France drew any conclusions from that”.

“It is much too serious of an issue to have been dismissed in this way,” he said.