737 MAX crashes: Richter accuses Boeing board of directors of lying


Status: 08.09.2021 10:04 a.m.

A US court has approved a lawsuit by shareholders against the board of directors of aircraft manufacturer Boeing over the 737 MAX crashes. It has been proven that the board lied, said the judge responsible.

The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is now confronted with a lawsuit by its own shareholders in the wake of the 737 MAX crashes. A court in the US state of Delaware admitted a lawsuit by investors. It has been proven that the board of directors lied about whether and how they monitored the safety of the 737 MAX, the judge said in the statement of reasons. The first of the two crashes was a “warning” about a bug in the MCAS security system, “which the board should have taken into account but instead ignored”.

Inadequate security measures

That the board of directors knowingly failed is also shown by the fact that at the time it stated that it had taken certain measures to monitor security, which it had not actually taken.

In 2018 and 2019, two Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes killed 346 people within a few months. The main cause of the accidents was a faulty control program. Boeing actually wanted to fix the problems after the first crash.

False statements by Dave Calhoun?

The then Boeing director and current company boss Dave Calhoun had testified that the board of directors was informed “immediately and by and large” after the first crash of a Lion Air machine and then met “very, very quickly”.

Israeli investigators investigate the wreckage of the Boing 737 MAX 8 at the crash site.

Image: picture alliance / AP Photo

Even after the second crash – an Ethiopian Airlines machine – the board of directors met within 24 hours of the accident to discuss a possible flight ban on the 737 MAX. “Each of Calhoun’s accounts was wrong,” said the court ruling.

In the end, the insurance pays

In a first statement, Boeing was disappointed with the court’s decision to allow the lawsuit. Further steps will be considered in the coming days. Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School, thinks it is very unlikely that the case will actually go to court.

Right now the board would probably tell their lawyers: “I don’t want to go to court. You have to pay them whatever it costs, I cannot take responsibility as a board member.” In this scenario, according to legal expert Quinn, everything should come down to an out-of-court settlement – which the board’s insurance will then pay for.

It is not the first legal aftermath of the 737 MAX disaster for Boeing: It was only in January that the aircraft manufacturer reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to pay $ 2.5 billion in compensation for the deception about design defects. According to the Reuters news agency, the two Boeing crashes have cost more than $ 20 billion so far.

Important changes before the new registration

The 737 MAX was withdrawn from worldwide circulation in March 2019 after the two crashes. It was only in November 2020 that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the flight ban after more than 20 months. The investigations revealed further shortcomings.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) lifted the grounding for the Boeing 737 MAX at the end of January 2021. The most important changes include software updates for the flight control computer and the MCAS, which had been identified as the main cause of the two crashes.

Airlines prefer Airbus SA21 Neo

But even with the new version of the plane, Boeing has little success. Most recently, numerous potential customers had waved their hand off with thanks. The Irish low-cost airline Ryanair announced just two days ago that it did not want to order any further 737 MAX aircraft from Boeing.

According to Ryanair, both sides had held talks about a “major follow-up order” for the long version 737 MAX 10 in the past ten months. However, Boeing has “a more optimistic outlook on airplane prices than we do,” said Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary. Ryanair does not pay high prices for aircraft.

Previously, other large Boeing customers such as Delta and Jet2 had already placed new orders, preferably with the European Boeing competitor Airbus. Both airlines opted for the Airbus Sa21 Neo – the direct competitor to the Boeing 737 Max 10.



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