A French criminal court has cleared Airbus and Air France of manslaughter accusations related to their involvement in the 2009 tragedy of an aircraft that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board.
In its ruling on Monday, the court stated that even if mistakes had been made, “no certain causal link” could be established between them and the disaster.
As the judges read out the verdict, sobs could be heard from the victims’ families.
The official inquiry determined that several circumstances contributed to the crash, including a pilot mistake and the icing over of external speed sensors known as pitot tubes during a storm.
The state’s attorneys urged for acquittal during the two-month trial, claiming insufficient evidence of the corporations’ criminal activity.
The pilots, who perished in the crash, were blamed for the most part by the prosecution.
Lawyers for Airbus also pointed the finger at the pilot, and Air France claimed that the entire cause of the accident would never be revealed.
According to the official investigation, the tragedy was caused by many factors, including a pilot error and the icing over of pitot tubes, which are external speed sensors, during a storm.
The 33-nation victims’ families had already received compensation from Air France.
The plaintiffs included a large number of families from Brazil and other countries.
On June 1, 2009, an A330-200 aircraft carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew members vanished from radar in a storm over the Atlantic Ocean.
At a depth of more than 13,000 feet (about 4,000 meters), it took two years to locate the jet and its black box recorders on the ocean floor.
If convicted, Airbus and Air France would have been fined up to €225,000 (£199,000) each.
For the victims’ families, who had fought for more than 10 years to have Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, and Air France, the major French airline, tried, the verdict was a devastating disappointment.
