PARIS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - A French appeals court will

begin a new trial on Monday of Air France and Airbus

, 16 years after a jetliner plunged into the Atlantic

killing all 228 people on board.

A lower French court cleared both companies of corporate

manslaughter in 2023 following a historic public trial over the

disappearance of flight AF447 while en route from Rio de Janeiro

to Paris on June 1, 2009.

After a two-year search for the A330's black boxes, French

investigators found pilots had mishandled the temporary loss of

data from iced-up speed sensors and pushed the jet into an

aerodynamic stall or free fall, without responding to alerts.

But the trial more than a decade later also shed light on

discussions between Air France and Airbus about growing problems

with the sensors or "pitot probes" that generate speed readings.

Following nine weeks of evidence, a Paris judge listed four

acts of negligence by Airbus and one by Air France but found

these were not enough under French criminal law to establish a

definitive link to the loss of the jet during a midnight storm.

Prosecutors appealed the verdict and called for a new

two-month trial that is expected to involve a full-scale airing

of evidence, rather than limiting itself to purely legal

matters.

The AF447 disaster has been among the most widely debated in

aviation and led to a number of technical and training changes.

Prosecutors have argued that Airbus reacted too slowly to

the rising number of speed incidents and that the airline failed

to do enough to ensure pilots were adequately trained.

Both companies have consistently denied any criminal

wrongdoing, but the earlier trial exposed bitter divisions

between two of France's flagship companies over the relative

roles of pilot and sensor in the country's worst air disaster.

The maximum fine for corporate manslaughter is just 225,000

euros but prosecutors believe a new trial will help to provide a

cathartic effect for families, who protested the earlier verdict

and pledged to keep fighting to establish criminal liability.

Chief executives of Airbus and Air France, part of

Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM, are expected to make statements

during the opening hearing, which starts at 1:30 p.m. local time

(1130 GMT) on Monday.