Regarding this accident, which is the deadliest in the history of French companies, the Paris Criminal Court exonerated the two companies, judging that, if "faults" had been committed, "no certain causal link" with the accident had "could not be demonstrated".

"We were waiting for an impartial judgment, it didn't. We are sickened," said Danièle Lamy, president of the association Entraide et Solidarité AF447. "All that remains of these 14 years of waiting is despair, dismay and anger."

"We are told: +responsible but not guilty+. And it's true that we were waiting for the word +guilty+," said Alain Jakubowicz, one of their lawyers.

Air France "takes note of the judgment," according to a statement. "The company will always remember the victims of this terrible accident and express its deepest sympathy to all their loved ones."

Airbus considered that this decision was "consistent" with the dismissal pronounced at the end of the investigation in 2019. The group also "expresses" its "compassion" to the relatives of the victims, and "reaffirms (its) total commitment (...) in the field of aviation safety".

On June 1, 2009, flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the middle of the night in the Atlantic, a few hours after takeoff, killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew members.

On board the A330 registered F-GZCP were people of 33 nationalities, including 72 French and 58 Brazilian.

"Loss of luck"

At the end of a marathon procedure marked by contradictory assessments of magistrates, this decision was eagerly awaited. At the end of the trial, which took place from October 10 to December 8, the prosecutor had requested the acquittal of the two companies, considering that their guilt was "impossible to prove".

The first debris from AF447 and bodies was found in the days following the crash. But the wreck was only located two years later, after a long search, at a depth of 3,900 meters.

The entrance to the courtroom of the Rio-Paris crash trial, October 10, 2022 in Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP / Archives

The black boxes confirmed the starting point of the accident: icing of the pitot speed probes as the plane flew at high altitude in the difficult weather zone of the "Pot au noir", near the equator.

Destabilized by the consequences of this failure, one of the co-pilots adopted an upward trajectory and, in misunderstanding, the three pilots failed to regain control of the aircraft, which stalled and struck the ocean 4 minutes and 23 seconds later.

Airbus has also shown "a form of withholding information" in relation to airlines, and should have updated its stall procedure, also considers the court, which also points to the lack of display of a message reporting the failure of the probes on the main screen of the A330.

Air France committed "faulty imprudence", continued the president Sylvie Daunis, related to the modalities of broadcasting a note of prevention on the freezing of probes, which was sent to its pilots.

Nevertheless, on the criminal level, "a certain causal link" with the accident, and not only a "loss of opportunity", must be demonstrated, explained the president. "In the present case, as far as faults are concerned, no definite causal link could be demonstrated with the accident."

The Rio-Paris crash in 2009 © / AFP/Archives

After a decade of battle of experts, the prosecutor's office had requested the referral to court of the only company Air France, but the investigating judges had dismissed the case in 2019.

This dismissal had been appealed and the prosecutor general had then requested the dismissal of the two companies: in 2021, the investigating chamber had followed him, ordering the trial.

© 2023 AFP