Move FM Global News

WASHINGTON, D.C.: This week, families of the victims of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 said the U.S. Justice Department should criminally prosecute the plane maker after a January in-flight blowout exposed ongoing safety and quality issues.

Relatives and their lawyers will argue that Boeing violated a 2021 deal with prosecutors to overhaul its compliance program following the crashes, which killed 346 people.

Federal prosecutors agreed to ask a judge to dismiss a criminal charge against Boeing as long as it complied with the deal’s terms over a three-year period.

However, an incident involving a panel blowing off a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet during an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5 took place just two days before the 2021 agreement expired.

Justice Department officials are now deciding whether Boeing violated it as part of a broader probe into the deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA).

Nadia Milleron, whose daughter, Samya Stumo, died while traveling aboard the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 that crashed in March 2019, said, “What we are saying to DOJ is, throw out the DPA.”

An independent monitor is required to ensure Boeing’s compliance with the agreement, family members of victims argue.

“If there was an outside monitor, the Alaska situation would not have happened,” Milleron said.

In January 2021, Boeing agreed to a US$2.5 billion deal to end a criminal investigation into its conduct related to the crashes. As part of the deal with prosecutors, the plane maker also agreed to compensate victims’ relatives.

In an earlier April meeting with the lawyers of victims’ family members, Justice Department officials said they were investigating circumstances outlined in the 2021 deal that could put Boeing in breach of the agreement, such as the company committing a felony or misleading U.S. officials.