Paris — France's national carrier and planemaker Airbus were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter on Monday in the deaths of 228 people killed when an Air France jet plunged into the sea as it flew from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009.
Although the two firms had acted carelessly in part, there was no causality clearly linking them to the accident, presiding judge Sylvie Daunis said.
Air France and Airbus had denied responsibility for the crash and demanded an acquittal. The prosecution also said in its closing arguments that it could not demand a conviction.
Everyone on board died when the storm-tossed plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in the early hours of June 1, 2009 after stalling.
It took two years to recover the bodies and cockpit recorders, located on the ocean floor at a depth of about 4,000 metres.
It was eventually determined by investigators that the crew had become overwhelmed after the Airbus A330's Pitot speed-monitoring tubes iced up and no longer provided clear readings. The crash was the deadliest in Air France's history.
The nine-week trial in Paris followed years of a legal tug-of-war. In 2019, investigating judges dismissed a case and it was not until last year that an appeal court ordered the trial against the companies.
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