Airbus, Air France Guilty of Manslaughter Over 2009 Atlantic Crash That Killed 228

An appeals court in Paris has found the two companies liable over failures that led to Flight 447 crashing en route from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris.

Workers unloading debris, belonging to crashed Air France flight AF447, from the Brazilian Navy's Constitution Frigate in the port of Recife, northeast of Brazil, on June 14, 2009. Eraldo Peres/AP Photo

An appeals court in Paris overturned a lower court’s 2023 verdict on May 21 and found Airbus and Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter over a 2009 crash that killed 228 people.

Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris vanished from radar screens over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, during a storm.