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Divers recovering part of the tail section from the Air France A330 aircraft that crashed in midflight over the Atlantic ocean on June 1, 2009. [AFP]
A French appeals court Thursday convicted Air France and Airbus of involuntary manslaughter over the 2009 crash of a Rio-Paris flight that killed 228 people, the worst disaster in France's aviation history.
The Paris Court of Appeal ruling was a dramatic reversal of a lower court decision.
The appeal court said that the French flag carrier and Europe's leading aerospace manufacturer were "solely and entirely responsible for the crash of flight AF447," ordering each to pay 225,000 euros ($261,000) -- the maximum fine for corporate manslaughter.
