The US Department of Justice announced Thursday that it reached an agreement with Boeing whereby aeronautics will pay 2.5 billion dollars (slightly more than 2,000 million euros) to close an investigation of its 737 MAX aircraft in which it was accused of withholding information from the regulator about the design flaw which caused two fatal accidents.
“The tragic accidents of Lion Air Flight 610 and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial aircraft manufacturers, “Acting Deputy Attorney General said in a statement David P. Burns, of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.
According to the investigation, in 2016 two pilots discovered “a major change” in the flight control system (MCAS) of the 737 MAX and, instead of sharing it with the FAA, Boeing “hid the information and deceived” the entity, which led to the manuals and training materials for its pilots not including data on it.
In October 2018 the accident of Lion Air, which fell into the Java Sea with 189 passengers, and in March 2019 that of Ethiopian Airlines, which crashed near the town of Bishoftu with 157 passengers, in both cases with 737 MAX aircraft which, as the investigations revealed, fell precipitously by a technical glitch in MCAS it could not be controlled by the pilots.
“Boeing employees chose the path of profit over honesty by withholding material information from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) about the operation of their 737 MAX aircraft and making an effort to cover up their deception,” Burns said.
The monetary agreement includes a a fine of almost 244 million dollars for Justice and 500 million in compensation to families of those killed in the claims, while $ 1.77 billion are committed to compensate Boeing’s airline customers for the losses caused by the stoppage of the 737 MAXs as a result of the second accident.
“This resolution is a serious reminder to all of us of how critical our obligation of transparency to regulators is, and the consequences that our company may face if any of us do not meet those expectations,” he said in a note to its employees the president and CEO of Boeing, David Calhoun.
The 737 MAX scandal, which was Boeing’s star aircraft, plunged the firm into the worst crisis in its history, causing costs of almost $ 20 billion due to its worldwide veto and damaging its reputation while undergoing investigations and a lengthy revalidation process with international regulators.
The FAA gave Boeing the green light on November 18 for the 737 MAX fly again with passengers and a week ago American Airlines operated the first flight in the US after its recertification, precisely in the midst of another crisis, that of the covid-19 pandemic, which has hit the tourism sector hard due to travel bans.
Boeing, which indicated that the amount of the fine will be recorded in its next quarterly results, fell 0.66% in electronic operations after the close of Wall Street in reaction to the news after closing the day with gains.
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