Aircraft manufacturer Boeing avoids criminal charges for the two fatal crashes of the 737 Max in Indonesia (2018) and Ethiopia (2019) in which 346 people died. A federal judge in Texas agreed this Thursday to dismiss a charge of criminal conspiracy against Boeing. Arlington (Virginia) agrees to pay compensation to the families of the victims and outstanding fines, as well as to reinforce internal security measures on airplanes.
The court ruling also represents an important lifeline for the American aviation giant, which is going through a difficult situation with order cancellations and delays in the delivery of its devices. In its latest quarterly results, the company stated
District Judge Reed O’Connor has approved the federal government’s request to dismiss its case against Boeing as part of an out-of-court settlement. The court decision comes five months after it allowed him to avoid prosecution for misleading US regulators about alleged 737 Max irregularities before the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
In his writing, published this Thursday, the judge maintains that the new agreement “does not guarantee the accountability necessary to ensure the safety of passengers.” However, O’Connor admits that he lacks the authority to reject the agreement because prosecutors did not act in bad faith in executing it, according to the AP. “Lack of judgment cannot be compensated for by judicial overreach,” O’Connor declared reluctantly. “The court recognizes that it does not have the authority to deny authorization because it disagrees with the government that dismissing the criminal charge in this case is in the public interest,” he added.
The ruling is a relief for Boeing, whose reputation was seriously compromised after the two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019 involving the same aircraft model, the 737 Max. After the serious accidents, prosecutors determined that Boeing committed fraud against the United States by tricking the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) into certifying the aircraft while hiding flaws in elements of a key flight control system. But the Department of Justice and Boeing reached an agreement in which criminal charges were dropped in exchange for a million-dollar fine. The company was placed on probation, which required him to have impeccable conduct, without any incident, for three years.
But at the beginning of last year, two days before the close monitoring period ended, the American giant suffered another accident with a 737 Max that had just left the factory. In this case there were no fatalities. But the ruling dusted off the cases of the past. During Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, the door plug of a new 737 Max came loose. Subsequent investigations uncovered deficiencies in controls at Boeing factories. This incident that occurred in mid-flight worsened the company’s crisis and caused a management restructuring.
The ruling released this Thursday comes after relatives of the victims asked Judge O’Connor to reject the out-of-court settlement, appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the cases and demand harsher sanctions for the company and its executives.
Now comes to an end Boeing’s long legal battle over a criminal conspiracy allegation over the Indonesian airline crashes in October 2018 and the Ethiopian airliner crashes in March 2019 related to a faulty flight control system.
The court case and investigations have dragged on for years. It has taken several unexpected turns since the Justice Department first accused the US aerospace company in January 2021 of defrauding the US government, including a failed deal that would have forced Boeing to plead guilty, Bloomberg explains.
