Air France has declined to make public the findings of a key report into its safety culture.

Launched in the aftermath of the loss of Flight AF 447 – which crashed off the coast of Brazil in 2009 with the loss of 228 lives – the report examines all aspects of the airline’s safety procedures.

Following over a year of investigations, the Independent Safety Review Team (ISRT) made a total 35 recommendations to Air France, as the airline continues to pursue its ongoing flight safety improvement process.

These included, for example, providing more-realistic simulator sessions for recurrent pilot training. 

Air France was also encouraged to set up procedures for systematically observing pilots during actual flights – a practice already common among US, Asian and Australian carriers.

The airline has established a Comité Mixte de Propositions (CMP) - grouping together unions and Company Management – to examine the recommendations.

However, Air France stated its present approach is fully compliant with the Embark strategic plan which establishes flight safety as an absolute priority at the airline.

In a statement Air France-KLM chief executive, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, said: “Air France is the only airline to have submitted itself, on its sole initiative, to the opinion of a team of external experts to whom I extend my gratitude for the quality of the work accomplished.

“By implementing their recommendations, which combine the best practices observed individually in other airlines worldwide, Air France will place its flight safety performance at the highest level possible.”

The study was launched in late 2009, six months after the crash of an Air France Airbus A330 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which killed all 228 people aboard.

The cause of the accident has never been determined.

However, investigations into the crash focused attention on Air France’s safety record, collection of incident data and pilot training.