Investigators are unable to say what caused flight AF447 to crash into the Atlantic ocean Investigators are unable to say what caused flight AF447 to crash into the Atlantic ocean

Airbus has confirmed that the recent Air France crash could not have been caused by the failure of aircraft speed sensors alone.

Speaking to HME.com, a spokesperson for Airbus explained that an aircraft could still fly without its speed sensors and the ongoing investigation being carried out by BEA France would determine what other contributing factors could have played a part in the fate of flight 447 on May 31.

The plane disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people on board and media focus on the sensors known as pitot tubes intensified after Air France issued a statement saying it was in the process of replacing the instruments on the Airbus A330 model.

The cause of Air France flight 447's crash on May 31 remains unclear. But one theory is that the sensors became iced over and gave incorrect readings. This could have caused the plane to fly either too slow or too fast, but Airbus denied that this alone could have caused the plane to crash.

"A lot of press speculation has surrounded the Air France flight crash because speed sensors onboard the aircraft stopped working," said an Airbus spokesperson, "but we are saying to airlines operating A330s that we are making no assumptions at this stage until the investigation is complete.

"A330s are still airworthy and if speed sensors did fail the aircraft would still have been airworthy."

The spokesperson went on to explain Airbus’ understanding of the sequence of events.

"We know there was turbulent weather in the vicinity of where the aircraft belonging to Air France went missing and there were messages transmitted to the control centre indicating inconsistencies in the measured airspeed.

"This was important because it means that the aircraft may not have been travelling at the actual airspeed it says it was and we are reminding airlines to refer to procedures in the aircraft manual which tell operators to fly the plane at the correct pitch and thrust."

In addition, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a statement on its website saying: "We confirm that the Airbus A330 type and all other Airbus aircraft types are airworthy and safe to operate.