Aircraft

Airbus is to assist with the funding of the deep-sea search effort for the flight recorders from the crashed Air France A330-200.

The twinjet was lost two months ago en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, but attempts to trace the cockpit voice and flight data recorders have been unsuccessful.

Following the 1 June loss a search programme, "Phase 1A", was initiated to retrieve debris and detect the recorders' sonic locator transmitters.

This was abandoned in July after recovery teams felt that the transmitters' power supply would have expired, and a second stage, termed Phase 1B, began to find debris and the recorders through sonar analysis.

Sources familiar with the situation say both phases were funded from the budget of France's BEA investigation authority, but that Phase 1B will formally conclude on 22 August.

Airbus and other interested parties will contribute funding to extend the search to a third stage, designated Phase 2, which will broaden the sonar hunt to a larger region.

Sources indicate that the combined funding could amount to €20 million ($28 million), although it is unclear whether the Phase 2 search has a defined timeframe.

Airbus declines to comment beyond saying that the effort to locate the recorders from flight AF447 is important and that it is "supporting" the organisations involved.