US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is to be prosecuted over recent safety and quality issues with its products. This is what the families of the victims of the fatal plane crashes that occurred in 2018 and 2019, when two B-737 MAX aircraft crashed due to a technical problem on a component, causing the death of 346 people, are asking.

The relatives of the victims have reiterated this aim in recent hours, putting pressure on the US Department of Justice. They ask that the authorities criminally prosecute the manufacturer due to an alleged violation of an agreement signed in 2021 with the American judiciary: the judge had dismissed a criminal charge against Boeing, upon payment of 2.5 billion dollars, on condition that in three years later the Group had guaranteed high safety standards on its products.

However, on January 5, 2024, a plug door exploded on board a B-737 MAX 9 aircraft (registration N704AL), operated by Alaska Airlines, which had just taken off (flight AS-1282). Authorities determined that the bolts securing the panel to the fuselage were missing. This forced Boeing to compensate various airlines that had grounded that aircraft model.

"This is too much. There needs to be more accountability". "If there had been external monitoring, the Alaska Airlines flight situation would not have occurred", said Nadia Milleron, whose daughter, Samya Stumo, lost her life while traveling aboard the crashed Ethiopian Airlines B-737 MAX 8 in March 2019. Now, the US administration has just over three months to decide whether to criminally prosecute Boeing.

On the same topic, see also the article published by AVIONEWS.