Air France says warned of icing problem a year ago

PARIS (Reuters) - Air France began changing airspeed sensors on Airbus long-haul aircraft due to icing fears five weeks before the crash of flight 447, but only after failing to agree a fix with Airbus, it said on Saturday.

Investigators said earlier the stricken A330 had sent out an airspeed error message before crashing into the Atlantic last Monday and that similar problems had been noticed before.

In a statement, the airline said it begun noticing airspeed problems from icing on both A330 and A340 planes in May 2008 and had requested a solution from Airbus, the manufacturer.

According to Air France, Airbus proposed testing different sensors despite earlier doubting they would resolve the problem, but that the airline declined to wait and started changing them from April 27. Airbus was not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher)