PARIS (AP) — Courts in Britain and France are considering Friday whether to accept a plea deal that could cost Airbus up to $4 billion and end years of corruption investigations.

If approved, the deal would be among the biggest-ever settlements in both France and Britain in a company corruption case.

British and French authorities are investigating alleged fraud and bribery related to Airbus' use of outside consultants to sell planes. U.S. authorities are also investigating Airbus' compliance with American arms trafficking regulations.

While costly, the plea deal would allow Airbus executives to avoid trial, and allow the company to turn the page on a period that damaged its reputation and led to management and policy changes.

The European plane maker said earlier this week it had reached preliminary settlement deals with authorities in France, Britain and the U.S. investigating alleged fraud and bribery. While Airbus did not disclose the size of the settlements, it put aside 3.6 billion euros ($4 billion) to cover the costs.

The plea deals need to be approved by courts in all three countries, and courts in the U.K. and France are holding hearings Friday. It's unclear how the money would be split across the three governments.

The French financial prosecutor's office and British Serious Fraud Office started investigating in 2016, and the U.S. Department of Justice joined in 2018.