Boeing finalises plea deal over fatal 737 Max crashes | Aviation

Aircraft giant to pay $243.6m fine under agreement that is subject to US judge’s approval.

Boeing has finalised a deal to plead guilty to fraud after prosecutors in the United States determined that the company violated a deferred prosecution agreement over two fatal crashes of the 737 Max jetliner.

Under the plea deal filed in a federal court in Texas on Wednesday, Boeing would pay a $243.6m fine for misleading aviation regulators about software used in the 737 Max that played a role in two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

The aircraft giant, which agreed in principle to plead guilty earlier this month, would also be required to invest $455m in its compliance safety programmes and appoint an independent compliance monitor while serving three years of “organisational probation”.

The agreement is subject to approval by US District Judge Reed O’Connor, who will give lawyers for families of the crash victims seven days to file objections to the deal.

“Boeing and the Justice Department have filed a detailed plea agreement in federal court, which is subject to court approval,” Boeing said in a statement.

“We will continue to work transparently with our regulators as we take significant actions across Boeing to further strengthen our safety, quality and compliance programs.”

The agreement comes after the US Department of Justice in May announced that the aircraft giant had breached its deal to avoid prosecution by failing to improve its compliance and ethics programme.

Under the 2021 agreement, Boeing paid $2.5bn in fines and restitution in exchange for immunity from criminal prosecution.

In its court filing, the Justice Department said Boeing had violated the agreement by turning a blind eye to potentially risky work practices and failing to ensure proper record keeping.

Families of the crash victims have opposed the plea agreement, arguing that Boeing deserves harsher punishment and that current and former company executives should be criminally charged.

Boeing is currently the subject of a separate criminal probe related to the midair blowout of an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing 737 Max 9 in March.