Boeing Pledges $100m to Families of 737 MAX Crash Victims

Boeing has pledged to commit $100m to help address the needs of families and communities affected by the two deadly crashes of its 737 Max aircraft in which 346 people died.

The US aerospace group said the investment, to be made over several years, will support education, hardship and living expenses for families affected by the two tragedies. It will also be put towards economic development initiatives in affected communities. Boeing will work with local governments and non-profit organisations as part of the plan.
“The families and loved ones of those on board have our deepest sympathies, and we hope this initial outreach can help bring them comfort,” said Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing, in a statement.

“We know every person who steps aboard one of our aeroplanes places their trust in us. We are focused on re-earning that trust and confidence from our customers and the flying public in the months ahead,” he added.
Boeing faces several lawsuits from families of victims of two accidents — the crash of a Lion Air flight off Indonesia last October and that of an Ethiopian Airlines plane in March.
Robert Clifford, a lawyer representing families of some of the Ethiopian crash victims, responded that the offer, coming early in the litigation process when many facts had still to be established, was unprecedented and “appears to be disingenuous”.

“Boeing does not understand that the families at this point in time are not interested in its money,” he said, adding that his clients’ priority was speeding up the slow recovery and identification of human remains from the crash site.
“The families also want to see the necessary money spent on making the 737 Max8 plane safe. If that means a complete redesign and recertification of the Max8, so be it,” he said.

The 737 Max has been grounded worldwide since March. There has been scrutiny of Boeing’s design of the plane and its response to the crisis, but also of the role played by the US aviation safety agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, in the certification of the plane. The FAA was the last regulator to ground the Max.
There is as yet no firm timetable for when the plane will return to the skies. Boeing has been working on a software update for the anti-stall system implicated in both crashes but has yet to submit it to the FAA.

A Boeing spokesman said the company’s pledge was “absolutely independent of the lawsuits” filed by the families of those on board both flights.
“We’ve been assessing a variety of ways to assist the families and communities impacted and determined that this is a constructive step that we can take now,” the spokesman said, adding that the allocation of money was currently being worked through with local partners.

The company has previously said regulatory and legal considerations have constrained its ability to share information about what happened in the two crashes, but this has left some critics dissatisfied.
Boeing’s response to the crisis “has all been through the lens of liability rather than the lens of openness,” said Samuel Engel, head of the aviation group at ICF, a US-based consultancy, speaking to the Financial Times on Wednesday before the announcement.

The company could not count on international regulators following the FAA’s lead to ensure the Max returned quickly to the skies once it passed a certification test flight. He predicted, however, that passengers would be willing to fly on the Max again as soon as it returned to service. “Once the plane is up in the air the crisis moves on very quickly . . . but I think getting from here to there is a bumpy runway.”
Boeing described the $100m as an “initial investment”. It said the final amount pledged could be higher as its employees will be able to make donations, which will then be matched by the company through to the end of this year.

July 04, 2019