Boeing reaches a millionaire agreement with the Federal Department of Justice

New York – He Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has reached an agreement with Boeing for which the airline will pay $ 2.5 billion to close an investigation into its 737 MAX aircraft in which it was accused of hiding information from the regulator about the design ruling that caused two fatal accidents.

“The tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and misleading conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial aircraft manufacturers,” he said in a statement. acting Deputy Attorney General David P. Burns of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice said.

According to the investigation, in 2016 two pilots discovered a “significant change” in the flight control system (MCAS) of the 737 MAX and instead of sharing it with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing “hid the information and deceived” us, which led to the fact that the manuals and training materials for its pilots did not include data on this.

In October 2018 there was the crash 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 inquiries revealed, were hurriedly lowered due to a technical failure in the MCAS which could not be controlled by the pilots.

“Boeing employees chose the path of profit versus that of sincerity by hiding material information from the FAA about the operation of their 737 MAX aircraft and making an effort to cover up their deception,” Burns said.

The monetary agreement includes a fine of nearly $ 244 million for Justice and $ 500 million in compensation to the families of those killed in the crashes, while $ 1.70 billion is pledged to compensate Boeing’s client airlines for the losses caused by the shutdown of the 737 MAX following the second accident.

“This resolution is a serious reminder to all of us of how critical our obligation of transparency with regulators is, and the consequences our company may face if any of us fail to 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, costing it nearly $ 20 billion due to its worldwide veto and damage. its reputation while undergoing research and a lengthy revalidation process with international regulators. The FAA gave the green light to Boeing last November 18 for the 737 MAX to fly again with passengers and a week ago American Airlines operated the first flight to the US after its recertification, precisely in the midst of another crisis, the 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, was down 0.66% in electronic operations after the closure of Wall Street in reaction to the news after closing the day with earnings.