Pictured are Boeing 737 MAX planes stored on the tarmac at the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, in 2019. On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it had reached a deal with Boeing, enabling the aircraft manufacturer to avoid prosecution for two fatal crashes involving its 737 MAX jets, which resulted in the deaths of 346 people.
This non-prosecution agreement prevents Boeing, a leading U.S. exporter and key military contractor, from being classified as a felon. Consequently, Boeing will not proceed to trial as initially planned for next month — a move that the families of the victims of the crashes have been advocating for years.
The Department of Justice recently met with the families of those affected by the crash to discuss the proposed agreement. In a court submission on Friday, the DOJ stated that it believes the agreement is a fair and equitable resolution that serves the public interest. The agreement commits Boeing to making payments or investments totalling over $1.1 billion, as detailed in the federal court filing in Texas. This sum includes a $487.2 million criminal fine, of which $243.6 million has already been paid under a previous agreement and will be deducted. It also encompasses $444.5 million for a new fund for crash victims and an additional $445 million for compliance, safety and quality initiatives.
Boeing has declined to comment on the matter. The company has been striving to move past the repercussions of the two Max crashes, one involving a Lion Air flight in October 2018 and the other involving an Ethiopian Airlines flight in the following months. The global grounding of Max planes following the second crash gave rival Airbus an advantage in its recovery from the pandemic.
While certain family members of crash victims have expressed support for the non-prosecution agreement, others have criticised it, viewing it as an unprecedented and inappropriate resolution for the most serious corporate offence in US history. These dissenting voices have emphasised the need for greater accountability from Boeing and called for its executives to face trial. The Justice Department has revealed that over 110 relatives of crash victims have endorsed the non-prosecution agreement or the Department’s broader pre-trial resolution efforts. However, some have insisted on pursuing a trial and have stated their intention to contest the deal.
Boeing previously reached a settlement in 2021, during the final days of the Trump administration, which shielded the company from prosecution for three years. As part of the agreement, Boeing paid $2.51 billion to avoid prosecution, including a $243.6 million criminal penalty, a $500 million fund for families of victims of the crashes, and $1.77 billion for its airline customers. The new fund established in the recent agreement will be in addition to the existing $500 million fund.
