Paris Court Convicts Swiftair of Corporate Manslaughter Over 2014 Mali Plane Crash

A Paris court has delivered a guilty verdict against Spanish company Swiftair for corporate manslaughter related to the tragic 2014 Air Algerie crash in northern Mali, which resulted in the deaths of 116 individuals.

On Monday, a French judge mandated that the Spanish airline pay the maximum French fine of 225,000 euros ($256,000) for corporate manslaughter following a three-week trial concluded earlier this year. Air Algerie Flight AH5017 was journeying from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria when it went down less than an hour after takeoff in July 2014, resulting in the fatalities of everyone on board.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft was owned by Swiftair and operated on behalf of the Algerian carrier. Investigators revealed that the plane entered a stall after being struck by ice while an anti-icing system was left switched off. The court attributed the disaster partly to "negligence" in Swiftair’s training regarding icy conditions, noting that the captain did not complete an adequate proficiency check and the crew lacked mandatory refresher flights following a period of inactivity.

Sebastien Busy, an attorney representing a group of relatives, stated that the ruling brings relief to families who have spent more than 12 years fighting for justice. Swiftair has a 10-day window to appeal the decision. Previously, the airline attempted to halt the trial by arguing that a Spanish court had already dismissed the case without filing charges. In a statement provided to AFP, Swiftair maintained that the trial should not have proceeded and insisted that safety regulations were strictly followed.

This decision represents the second instance of an airline being convicted of corporate manslaughter in France, following a similar ruling earlier this year involving Air France and Airbus over the 2009 crash of a jetliner traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.