PARIS – A French court on Wednesday ordered Air France and plane maker Airbus to stand trial for manslaughter in the 2009 crash into the Atlantic Ocean of a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which killed all 228 people aboard.
The two companies said they would appeal the decision, which overturns a 2019 ruling. Victims' groups in France and Brazil had pressed for a trial, maintaining the companies were at least partially responsible for the crash.
French judges in 2019 had dropped a decade-long investigation into the crash. Air France “maintains that it did not commit a criminal offense in this tragic accident and will be appealing to the French Court of Cassation,” France's highest court, the carrier said in a statement.