Boeing has until this Thursday to reply to the US Department of Justice’s ruling that the aircraft manufacturer may face legal action for breaking a 2021 agreement that spared it from prosecution over two deadly 737 MAX crashes.
According to Bloomberg News, which cited unidentified sources late on Wednesday, the troubled aviation behemoth provided its formal response on Wednesday refuting the Justice Department’s conclusion.
“We’ll decline to comment on any specific communications with the Justice Department, however we continue to engage transparently with the Department, as we have throughout the term of the agreement,” Boeing stated regarding the Bloomberg article.
The lawsuit pertains to a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) involving two MAX disasters that occurred in 2018 and 2019, resulting in a total of 346 fatalities. This comes at a time when Boeing is under increased scrutiny due to recent manufacturing and safety issues.
Mike Whitaker, the Federal Aviation Administrator, is scheduled to speak before the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday regarding Boeing’s recent commitment to improve its quality control and safety measures.
Additionally, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will go before Congress on Tuesday, the following Tuesday, in a hearing with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Ever since an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX had to make an emergency landing on January 5 due to a fuselage panel blowing out in midair, the industry giant has been closely watched.
The event occurred not long before the three-year DPA was set to expire.
Should the DOJ have been pleased with Boeing’s actions, they might have taken the necessary steps to withdraw the accusations.
On May 14, however, the DOJ concluded—citing several clauses—that Boeing “breached its obligations” under the agreement in a letter to US Judge Reed O’Connor.
Boeing was forced to pay $2.5 billion to resolve fraud accusations related to the 737 MAX’s certification as part of the January 2021 accord.
In order “to effectively detect and deter violations of US fraud laws,” the DOJ letter listed steps that Boeing must take, including implementing an ethics and compliance programme, strengthening internal controls, and forbidding Boeing from knowingly submitting “deliberately false, incomplete, or misleading” information regarding its compliance.
In a statement to AFP on May 14, Boeing stated, “We believe that we have honoured the terms of that agreement,” and it stated that it intended to defend itself.
Families want charges to be brought.
189 people lost their lives when a Lion Air MAX 8 crashed in Indonesia’s Java Sea in October 2018.
Less than six months later, in March 2019, 157 people were killed when another Ethiopian Airlines MAX 8 crashed southeast of Addis Ababa.
On May 31 of this year, relatives of those who lost loved ones in the two MAX crashes met with prosecutors.
“The families, through Clifford Law Offices, have been advocating for the DOJ to pursue legal action against Boeing instead of accepting a plea bargain,” stated a press release from the families’ legal representation.
The survivors “asked for full transparency including a criminal trial on conspiracy and other possible criminal charges against Boeing and their executives responsible for the two crashes,” stated the statement.
According to the Justice Department, a decision on the case’s course will be made by July 7.
Prior to that, the June 18 hearing—dubbed a probe into “Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture”—will likely feature a barrage of questions for Calhoun following the panel’s earlier hearing from whistleblowers from the corporation.
Boeing initiated an executive search after announcing in March that Calhoun will leave the firm as CEO at the end of 2024.
The financial burden of the company’s struggles has persisted.
Following earlier projections of positive cash creation in the low single-digit billions for the year, Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West stated last month that the firm anticipates negative cash for the entirety of 2024.
