KUALA LUMPUR • Airbus Group and AirAsia have been sued by representatives of the families of 10 passengers on board the doomed Flight 8501, media reported yesterday.

The Airbus 320 plane, which plunged into Indonesia's Java Sea last December killing all 162 passengers, was "defectively and unreasonably dangerous", and its systems did not provide accurate weather, air speed and ice-accumulation information, according to a complaint filed on June 19 in federal court in Chicago.

American aviation lawyer Floyd Wisner said in a statement yesterday that Airbus and its supplier manufacturers were aware of the various problems that could lead to disasters.

"Yet they appear to have done nothing about it, despite many incidents," said Mr Wisner, the principal of Chicago-based Wisner Law Firm.

Mr Wisner also slammed budget airline AirAsia for offering families only half the amount of compensation being paid to families of other recent air disasters.

The Malaysian airline initially offered US$24,000 (S$32,362) for each grieving family, and added another US$100,000 afterwards, CNN reported in January.

BLOOMBERG