Criminal case against Boeing over 737 Max plane crashes dismissed, aircraft-maker reaches settlement with families of victims
An automated flight control system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System was blamed for both crashes, which were among the deadliest in aviation history.
November 6, 2025 10:19 PM IST
First published on: Nov 6, 2025 at 10:15 PM IST
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Two new 737 MAX planes, Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, crashed five months apart, killing a total of 346 people. (Photo: Reuters)
A US judge on Thursday approved a request by the Justice Department to dismiss a criminal case against Boeing, allowing the aviation giant to avoid prosecution in the two fatal 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people.
Boeing to pay additional $444.5 million
Under the non-prosecution deal, Boeing agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund to be divided evenly per victim of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes, on top of a new $243.6 million fine and over $455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programmes.
Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Photo: REUTERS)
An automated flight control system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was blamed for both crashes, which were among the deadliest in aviation history.
Boeing has settled more than 90% of the dozens of civil lawsuits related to the two accidents. (Photo: AP)
The two accidents led to a 20-month grounding of the company’s best-selling jet and cost Boeing more than $20 billion.
Boeing has settled more than 90% of the dozens of civil lawsuits related to the two accidents, paying out billions of dollars in compensation through lawsuits, a deferred prosecution agreement and other payments, the company previously told Reuters.
Judge disagrees with Justice Department decision
Judge Reed O’Connor of the US District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, who on Thursday approved the DoJ request, however, said he did not agree with dismissing the case in the public interest, but said he did not have the authority to reject the decision.
He added the government’s deal with Boeing “fails to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public.”
In September, O’Connor held a three-hour hearing to consider objections to the deal, questioning the government’s decision to drop a requirement that Boeing face oversight from an independent monitor for three years and instead hire a compliance consultant. He heard anguished objections from relatives of some of those killed in the crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 to the non-prosecution agreement.
O’Connor said the government’s position is “Boeing committed crimes sufficient to justify prosecution, failed to remedy its fraudulent behaviour on its own during the (deferred prosecution agreement), which justified a guilty plea and the imposition of an independent monitor, but now Boeing will remedy that dangerous culture by retaining a consultant of its own choosing.”
The government argued Boeing has improved, and the Federal Aviation Administration is providing enhanced oversight. Boeing and the government argued O’Connor had no choice but to dismiss the case.
O’Connor said in 2023 that “Boeing’s crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in US history.”
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Two new 737 MAX planes, Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, crashed five months apart, killing a total of 346 people. (Photo: Reuters) 
