737 MAX crash: Boeing sentenced to millions of dollars in compensation
Six and a half years after the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX plane in Ethiopia, the plane manufacturer was sentenced to pay millions of dollars in compensation. Boeing must pay $28.45 million (about 24.5 million euros) in compensation to the widower of a murdered Indian woman, a jury decided Wednesday at the end of a civil trial in Chicago. The plaintiff said he was “satisfied” with the ruling.
A total of 157 people died in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 on March 10, 2019, including five German citizens. Boeing had previously reached an out-of-court settlement with the survivors of the second crash – a woman from Kenya. The plaintiffs allege that Boeing, among other things, was negligent and partly responsible for the woman’s death.
Following the crash, a global flight ban on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft was implemented. Several months earlier, in October 2018, a Boeing of the same type crashed on the Indonesian island of Java, killing all 189 people on board.
Investigations into the two crashes revealed that the 737 MAX had, among other things, problems with the MCAS stabilization software and deficiencies in pilot training. Boeing has revised its software.
The flight ban plunged Boeing into a deep crisis. It will be gradually revoked starting at the end of 2020.
AFP
