A French court has found Air France and Airbus liable for the 2009 plane crash

The Paris Court of Appeals has found Air France and aircraft manufacturer Airbus guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2009 plane crash that claimed the lives of 228 people. The court held the companies “solely and fully liable” for the tragedy that occurred 17 years ago. 

This was reported by the BBC. The current verdict radically overturned a 2023 lower court ruling that had fully acquitted both companies following a lengthy public trial. Representatives of the companies again denied the charges and announced their intention to appeal the court’s verdict.

The crash of the passenger jet, which was operating flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, occurred on June 1, 2009, during a severe storm over the Atlantic Ocean and became the deadliest in the history of French aviation. The search operation lasted for years across a vast area of the seabed, and the flight recorders were not recovered from the deep waters until 2011. The official investigation in 2012 concluded that the crash was caused by a fatal combination of a technical malfunction in the airspeed sensors and erroneous actions by the crew. Due to the sensors icing over, the pilots received incorrect data and, panicking, instead of lowering the nose of the plane to pull out of the dive, mistakenly pulled it up, which led to a complete loss of speed.

The court ordered Air France and Airbus to pay the maximum fine allowed by law—225,000 euros each. Relatives of the victims, most of whom were citizens of France, Brazil, and Germany, called the amount a purely symbolic punishment, but viewed the very fact that the large corporations admitted guilt as a positive step. The head of the victims’ association, Danielle Lamy, emphasized that justice had finally acknowledged the families’ years of suffering. In addition to dealing a severe blow to the companies’ reputations, this incident has already led to historic global changes: since 2009, global aircraft manufacturers have completely replaced the problematic types of airspeed sensors and significantly modernized pilot training programs for responding to crisis situations.

As a reminder, a Hercules C-130 crash in Bolivia claimed at least 15 lives.

A military helicopter also crashed in Qatari territorial waters.

Late in the evening on March 22, a major plane crash involving an Air Canada passenger jet and a fire truck occurred at LaGuardia Airport.