1 June 2025
A Boeing 737 MAX sits outside the hangar during a media tour of the Boeing 737 MAX at the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington. Photo: Reuters
Between 2018 and 2019, two major plane crashes involving Boeing aircraft killed 346 people. At the root of the tragedies were modifications the company made to its aircraft with the aim of containing costs. With just weeks to go before the opening of the trial that is supposed to adjudicate the company's liability, however, the U.S. Department of Justice appears to be ready to sign an agreement to close the matter, which would spare Boeing any criminal consequences for the crimes it committed.
Revealing the possibility of the settlement was initially Reuters, followed by the release of documents dated May 23 confirming that an agreement had been reached between the government and the company. Under the terms set forth, Boeing will not have to plead guilty to the massacres, but will merely admit to obstructing the investigation. Added to this is a commitment to “pay or invest” $1.1 billion, as well as to arrange a meeting with the families of the victims so that they can express directly to management the human impact of their business choices. The formalization of the agreement is expected in the coming days, resulting in the “prompt” filing of the criminal case, a process that would thus anticipate the official opening of the trial, scheduled for June 23.
But there is more: the amount agreed upon will not go entirely to compensate for the damage caused. Of the $1.1 billion, $444 million will go to a fund to be distributed among the victims' families, $243 million will represent a penalty paid to the state, and the remaining $455 million will be reinvested by Boeing in internal safety and quality control programs. In other words, a significant portion of the amount discussed will go directly back into the company's own coffers in the form of operational improvements.
Referring to the charters, the families of the victims seem to have firmly embraced this solution, however, testimonies collected by the BBC tell a different scene, describing dissatisfaction and frustration. A sense of helplessness and fatalism that is well understandable: the Boeing saga is long and murky, yet the legal case lent itself to a clear-cut solution, creating a contrast with the decision to embark on such an accommodating settlement.
Boeing is awaiting trial for the crash of two 737 MAX aircraft. The first crash, on Oct. 29, 2018, claimed 189 lives; the second, on March 10, 2019, claimed 157 more. Investigations revealed that the 737 MAX had been poorly built, with a defective pilot assistance system and with the explicit intention of circumnavigating controls and legal obligations. Despite the company's denials, employees admitted on multiple occasions to performing criminal forms of fraud under pressure from management. “God has not forgiven me for the cover-up I did the other night,” reads one of the emails analyzed by investigators.
The whole affair is also cloaked in deep conflicts of interest. Boeing is among the multiple entities that symbolically supported U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration with a $1 million donation. More recently, the company's CEO, Kelly Ortberg, has been at the center of a deal to sell 160 jets to Qatar Airways; in addition, the company was also somehow involved in Qatar's own donation of a new Air Force One, which took the form of an ultra-equipped Boeing 747-8.
More significantly, Boeing is a company with billion-dollar contracts in place with the U.S. Defense. Its role, while disappointing at times, is considered crucial to star-studded space programs, plus a new contract was signed last March for the design of next-generation military jets. With this in mind, it must therefore be noted that a criminal conviction can justify the suspension or cancellation of government contracts.
https://www.justice.gov/criminal/media/1401531/dl?inline
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14kg0lj8k6o
https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-vns/file/1482911/dl?inline
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/09/boeing-737-max-plane-crash-faa-emails-jedi-mind-tricks/4428720002/
