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A French judge on Thursday filed preliminary manslaughter charges against Airbus over the 2009 crash of an Air France jet, according to local media reports on Thursday.
The announcement comes ahead of Sunday's resumption of a search for the plane's wreckage.
The France-based company’s chairman, Thomas Enders, said that he “strongly" disagreed with Judge Sylvie Zimmerman’s "premature" decision—especially in light of the fact that the plane’s black box flight recorders had not been located during an ocean floor sweep last May, reported the Le Monde newspaper.
“We will, however, continue to cooperate with the investigation and the next phase of our search for black boxes,” he told reporters, the newspaper reported.
Airbus was not charged with anything and Air France will be in court on Friday, the AFP reported.
On June 1, 2009, Air France flight 447, bound for Paris from Rio de Janeiro, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during an intense, high-altitude thunderstorm, killing all 228 people on board.
In December, Air France was ordered to pay more than $750,000 in restitution to Brazilian family members of the victims.
Airbus has been partially blamed for the crash due to problematic speed sensors used in the aircraft, while Air France is being accused of not responding quickly enough to reports that the sensors might be faulty.
The crash was the worst in Air France's 75-year history.
