Airbus and Air France go on trial over 2009 Rio-Paris crash
Airbus and Air France went on trial on Monday over their role in the 2009 crash of a Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board, a hard-won step in a decade-long struggle by the families of victims to bring the two aviation giants to court. Prosecutors have charged Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, and Air France, the main French airline, with involuntary manslaughter. But the legal pursuit has been slow and marked by years of repeated denials from the companies that they were criminally responsible for the accident, the deadliest in the airline’s history. Philippe Linguet, 59, who is one of 400 plaintiffs and whose brother Pascal died in the crash, said at the main courthouse in Paris, where the trial is being held, that the mere fact that the two companies were standing trial was a “great victory” after “years of ups and downs.” If convicted, the companies would each face a fine of 225,000 euros, or about $218,300, a figure that would do little to dent their bottom lines, but a guilty verdict against them could seriously hurt the reputation of both aviation heavyweights. Families of the victims have already received financial compensation. No individual executives or managers are standing trial, but Guillaume Faury, the CE for Airbus, and Anne Rigail, the CE for Air France — neither of whom were in their current positions at the time of the crash — stood still on the stand on Monday as the presiding judge read the names of the 228 passengers and crew members, one by one. Both expressed their condolences for the crash, which investigators said occurred after confused pilots responded inadequately to iced-over airspeed sensors, but both also said their companies were not guilty. “Air France doesn’t forget and will never forget,” Rigail told the court, but she insisted that the airline had not made any criminal mistakes. Faury said that “security is my number one priority,” but he also repeated Airbus’s stance that it was not criminally liable for the crash.<br/>
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Airbus and Air France go on trial over 2009 Rio-Paris crash
Airbus and Air France went on trial on Monday over their role in the 2009 crash of a Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board, a hard-won step in a decade-long struggle by the families of victims to bring the two aviation giants to court. Prosecutors have charged Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, and Air France, the main French airline, with involuntary manslaughter. But the legal pursuit has been slow and marked by years of repeated denials from the companies that they were criminally responsible for the accident, the deadliest in the airline’s history. Philippe Linguet, 59, who is one of 400 plaintiffs and whose brother Pascal died in the crash, said at the main courthouse in Paris, where the trial is being held, that the mere fact that the two companies were standing trial was a “great victory” after “years of ups and downs.” If convicted, the companies would each face a fine of 225,000 euros, or about $218,300, a figure that would do little to dent their bottom lines, but a guilty verdict against them could seriously hurt the reputation of both aviation heavyweights. Families of the victims have already received financial compensation. No individual executives or managers are standing trial, but Guillaume Faury, the CE for Airbus, and Anne Rigail, the CE for Air France — neither of whom were in their current positions at the time of the crash — stood still on the stand on Monday as the presiding judge read the names of the 228 passengers and crew members, one by one. Both expressed their condolences for the crash, which investigators said occurred after confused pilots responded inadequately to iced-over airspeed sensors, but both also said their companies were not guilty. “Air France doesn’t forget and will never forget,” Rigail told the court, but she insisted that the airline had not made any criminal mistakes. Faury said that “security is my number one priority,” but he also repeated Airbus’s stance that it was not criminally liable for the crash.<br/>
