The Paris Court of Appeal found Air France and Airbus guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the crash of Flight AF447, which went down in the Atlantic on 1 June 2009 between Rio de Janeiro and Paris, killing all 228 people on board. Each company was fined 225,000 euros, the legal maximum for a corporate entity under French criminal law. The verdict overturns the acquittal handed down at first instance in April 2023, after seventeen years of legal proceedings.
The court identified two causal factors: the failure of the Pitot airspeed sensors, affected by icing, and inadequate pilot training. Immediately after the ruling was delivered, Airbus announced its intention to appeal to the Court of Cassation, extending the legal uncertainty over the scope of liability.
The case fits into a broader debate on the criminal liability of large corporations under continental European law, where the legal ceilings on corporate fines have not been adjusted to the economic scale of transnational groups. The verdict comes as the European Commission and several member states are discussing tougher penalties in matters of industrial safety. The simultaneous conviction of two major players in European aerospace also affects a sector under heavy international competition.
Disagreements center mainly on the significance of the verdict. Some actors regard the fine as symbolic and disproportionate given the human toll and the size of the companies, while others stress the value of the criminal recognition itself. The length of the proceedings and the relative share of responsibility among manufacturer, airline and pilots also remain disputed, with the announced appeal leaving the final outcome open.
