Air France, Airbus to face trial over 2009 Rio-Paris crash

France's national carrier and Europe's top aircraft maker are to stand trial over the 2009 crash of a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris that killed all 228 people on board.

A Paris appeals court on Wednesday ruled that both  Air France and Airbus must face a trial over the crash of an Airbus A330 jet in June 2009.

Flight AF447 was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm — killing everyone on board. 

Prosecutors challenge earlier ruling

The decision to go ahead with a manslaughter trial against both Air France and Airbus came at the request of the general prosecutor.

Initially, the Paris prosecutor's demand had been that only Air France face manslaughter charges.

However, both teams had contested a 2019 decision by the two investigating magistrates to drop the charges.

The magistrates said they could not ascribe fault to the companies in what appeared to be a case of pilot error.

Investigators said the crash had also been caused by faulty speed monitoring equipment.

The probe team determined that the crew had mishandled loss of speed readings from sensors that had become blocked with ice. The pilots were said to have caused the aircraft to stall by holding its nose too high.