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France

Air France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter in 2009 Rio-Paris crash

Saturday, 23 May 2026, 06:40 · 1 min read

France's Paris Court of Appeals has convicted Air France and Airbus of involuntary manslaughter over the 2009 crash of flight AF447, which killed all 228 people on board when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on 1 June 2009, overturning a 2023 acquittal and holding the airline and manufacturer "solely and entirely responsible." The court imposed the maximum fine under French law — €225,000 (roughly USD 261,000) on each company — a sum victims' families described as largely symbolic, while both Air France and Airbus rejected the ruling and said they would appeal. The Airbus A330-200, operating the Rio de Janeiro–Paris route, stalled during a mid-ocean storm after its airspeed probes froze, and the co-pilots were unable to correct the subsequent stall; the disaster remains the deadliest in French civil aviation history.

Sources
MercoPressAir France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter over 2009 Rio-Paris crash ↗︎MercoPress (ES)Air France y Airbus son declarados culpables de homicidio involuntario por el accidente del vuelo Río-París de 2009 ↗︎
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