Flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic after flying into stormy weather. The causes of the crash are not known. Brazilian and French ships are still searching the ocean for debris and bodies.
“For now we are going to concentrate on the first advance that will be paid for each victim, approximately 17,500 euros ($24,420),” Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said.
“The lawyers of our insurers in every country are talking to the victims’ families to try and organise this advance payment,” he said.
Gourgeon presented the payments as a compassionate gesture from the airline, not an admission of liability.
Passengers from 32 nationalities died in the crash.
Asked how the probe into the causes of the disaster was going, Gourgeon echoed words of caution from French investigators who said they were getting closer to understanding what happened but had no certainties yet.
Published 19 June 2009, 19:02 IST