Paris Court of Appeal Convicts Air France and Airbus for AF447 Involuntary Manslaughter

Overview

• The Paris Court of Appeal, which issued its ruling on Thursday May 21, 2026, found Air France and Airbus guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the June 1, 2009 Rio–Paris flight AF447 disaster that killed 228 people.
• Investigators at the BEA reconstructed a chain of technical failures in which pitot probes iced, produced inconsistent airspeed readings, caused the autopilot to disconnect, and led to manual nose-up inputs that triggered a high-altitude aerodynamic stall.
• The verdict reverses a 2023 first-instance acquittal and follows an appeal process that began in September 2025 after prosecutors sought to retry the question of corporate criminal responsibility.
• Because French law limits penalties for legal entities, the court fined each company the maximum €225,000, a financial outcome that is largely symbolic but likely to damage reputations and to support victims’ civil claims and tighter oversight of training and equipment.
• Relatives of the victims welcomed the conviction as partial vindication after years of litigation while prosecutors said the companies underestimated pitot failure risks and failed to ensure crew training for high-altitude icing scenarios.