A Paris court found Spanish airline Swiftair guilty of corporate manslaughter on Monday over the 2014 crash of an Air Algerie flight in northern Mali that killed all 116 people on board.
The Paris Criminal Court ordered Swiftair to pay €225,000, the maximum fine in France for corporate manslaughter, following a three-week trial earlier this year.
Swiftair denied the charges and has 10 days to appeal the ruling.
Air Algerie Flight AH5017 was travelling from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, when it crashed less than an hour after takeoff in July 2014.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 was owned and operated by Swiftair on behalf of Air Algerie.
Investigators later concluded that the aircraft entered a stall after encountering ice while an anti-icing system remained switched off.
Prosecutors alleged negligence in Swiftair’s training of pilots to handle icy conditions and erratic data.
The court rejected some prosecution arguments concerning inadequate training but found that the captain had not completed a proper proficiency check and that the crew lacked the required number of refresher flights after a period of inactivity.
Swiftair had argued that shortcomings in regulations and manuals contributed to the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Swiftair sought to halt the French proceedings at the beginning of the trial, arguing that a Spanish court had previously dropped the case without charges.
The company maintained after Monday’s ruling that it should not have been held liable and that applicable safety regulations had been followed.
Swiftair said it would examine the judgment with its legal advisers before deciding its next steps.
Sebastien Busy, a lawyer representing relatives of victims, said the ruling brought relief to families after more than 12 years of pursuing justice.
The judgment marks the second time an airline has been found guilty of corporate manslaughter in France.
Air France and Airbus were both found guilty in May over the 2009 Rio de Janeiro-to-Paris crash that killed 228 people, though both companies have appealed that verdict.