In 2018, a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia, and in 2019, a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Indonesia. In the two airplane crashes, about 1,000 people died. The relatives of the victims appealed to the ministry, asking to recover 24.7 billion dollars from the company.
The US Justice Department decided to bring criminal charges against the Boeing Corporation for violating the agreement, which is related to the aircraft crashes in 2018-2019.
The ministry concluded that the aircraft manufacturer violated the 2021 agreement, which protects it from criminal prosecution on the condition of reviewing practices and providing regular reporting. The charge against Boeing will include one count of deceiving the United States government about aircraft safety measures.
The U.S. Justice Department will make and announce a formal decision on the matter by July 7.
In 2018, a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia and in 2019, a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Indonesia. About 1,000 people died in the two airplane crashes. The relatives of the victims appealed to the ministry, asking to recover 24.7 billion dollars from the company.
After the tragedies, Boeing admitted that in both cases there was a failure in the work of the system to improve maneuverability characteristics. In 2021, as part of the U.S. Justice Department's lawsuit against the airline, it agreed to pay 2.5 billion dollars, including 1.77 billion dollars to the owners of the crashed airliners and 500 million dollars to the relatives of the victims.
Boeing agreed to the charges of "conspiracy" to mislead the regulator about technical problems.
Technical problems with Boeing airplanes have been reported more than once recently. In early April, a Boeing 737-800 with passengers on board lost an engine cowl in mid-air. In March, a passenger Boeing 737 in the United States lost part of its outer panel during flight.
In addition, two whistleblowers about defects at airplane giant Boeing died in the States.