Air France and Airbus guilty of corporate manslaughter for 2009 plane crash

Key points

• A Paris appeals court has found Airbus and Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter over the 2009 Rio-Paris plane crash that killed 228 passengers and crew in France’s worst air disaster.
• The verdict is the latest milestone in a legal marathon involving two of France’s most emblematic companies and families of the mainly French, Brazilian and German victims.
• Relatives of some of the 228 passengers and crew who died when the Airbus A330 vanished in darkness during an Atlantic storm gathered to hear the verdict after their 17-year legal battle to pinpoint blame for France’s worst air disaster.
• The court ordered the companies to pay the maximum fine for corporate manslaughter, €225,000 (£194,500) each, after the request of prosecutors during the eight-week trial.
• In 2023, a lower court had cleared the two companies, both of which have repeatedly denied the charges.