Air France focused on aiding families of sufferers from the crash of Flight 447, offering a first advance on compensation on Friday while investigators worked quietly to solve the secrecy of what brought the jet down.
The European air safety agency said, meanwhile, there was not yet enough evidence to issue a compulsory recall of an external air speed monitor suspected of contributing to the disaster.
Air France chief executive Phillipe Gourgeon told RTL radio that the airline plans to make an advance of about euro17,500 for each of the 228 victims, with no strings attached and also may hold a memorial for all the victims of the May 31 crash. But Gourgeon said the airline has had trouble even reaching some relatives of victims, who came from 32 countries since, the only contact number for a victim is from a mobile phone that was lost in the crash.
Investigators says an automated message sent by the plane record before it lost contact indicates it was receiving inconsistent speed readings from external monitors called Pitot tubes. Air France has replaced the Pitot tubes on all its A330 and A340 aircraft, under the pressure from pilots who feared a link to the accident.
But Daniel Hoeltgen, a spokesman for the Cologne, Germany-based European Aviation Safety Agency, said that there was not enough evidence to warrant a compulsory order that all airlines replace the part.
French-chartered ships are pulling U.S. Navy underwater listening devices through a search area with a radius of 50 miles, trying to detect the black boxes, which is at deep sea, which might have the most detailed explanation of what happened to the plane.
The European air safety agency said, meanwhile, there was not yet enough evidence to issue a compulsory recall of an external air speed monitor suspected of contributing to the disaster.
Air France chief executive Phillipe Gourgeon told RTL radio that the airline plans to make an advance of about euro17,500 for each of the 228 victims, with no strings attached and also may hold a memorial for all the victims of the May 31 crash. But Gourgeon said the airline has had trouble even reaching some relatives of victims, who came from 32 countries since, the only contact number for a victim is from a mobile phone that was lost in the crash.
Investigators says an automated message sent by the plane record before it lost contact indicates it was receiving inconsistent speed readings from external monitors called Pitot tubes. Air France has replaced the Pitot tubes on all its A330 and A340 aircraft, under the pressure from pilots who feared a link to the accident.
But Daniel Hoeltgen, a spokesman for the Cologne, Germany-based European Aviation Safety Agency, said that there was not enough evidence to warrant a compulsory order that all airlines replace the part.
French-chartered ships are pulling U.S. Navy underwater listening devices through a search area with a radius of 50 miles, trying to detect the black boxes, which is at deep sea, which might have the most detailed explanation of what happened to the plane.
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