Boeing pays $2.5 billion settlement and admits debt in 737 Max case

Boeing has reached a settlement with the American judiciary in the case concerning its 737 Max airliner. The company pays more than $2.5 billion to various parties and is not prosecuted in return, but does admit guilt.

Of the $2.5 billion, $1.77 billion will go to the airlines that bought the 737 Max, 500 million will go to the families of the victims of the two accidents and the last $243.6 million will go to the US government as a fine. .

Boeing must therefore acknowledge and accept the indictment in the case. In doing so, it admits that it is guilty of “a conspiracy to defraud the American state.” Boeing did so by providing only “misleading statements, half-truths and omissions” to the Federal Aviation Authority, the country’s aviation authority, regarding the 737 Max’s shortcomings.

The 737 Max’s flaw was in the MCAS anti-slip system. After an angle of attack sensor transmitted incorrect data, the system thought that a stall situation was imminent, after which the nose was pushed down. The system only received data from a single sensor and the pilots turned out to be insufficiently trained to fly the new 737 Max type. The result of this situation were two crashes; one at Ethiopian Airlines and one at Lion Air. All 346 occupants of the two flights were killed.

The Boeing 737 Max has been allowed to fly again from the FAA since November of 2020. It is expected that Europe will again give the green light for the use of the device this month.