May 23, 2026, 3:45 p.mMay 23, 2026, 4:46 p.m
In the case of two fatal aircraft crashes involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in 2018 and 2019, a US court has decided on liability issues. The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing cannot be held liable for loss of revenue by the Polish airline LOT.
This was decided by a court in Seattle in the US state of Washington on Friday (local time). The background to this is two crashes of Boeing aircraft models: in 2018, a 737 MAX aircraft from Lion Air crashed, and in 2019, a corresponding aircraft from Ethiopian Airlines crashed. A total of 346 people were killed. Boeing subsequently admitted that it had installed a faulty flight stabilization program that contributed to the crashes.
Because of the error, the US aviation authority ordered all 737 MAX aircraft to be grounded from March 2019 to November 2020. In court, the airline had claimed loss of revenue for this period amounting to $250 million and justified this with Boeing’s alleged “intentional and negligent misrepresentations”.
Airline is considering further steps
After the verdict, the airline said in a statement that it was considering further legal action against the aircraft manufacturer. Boeing, in turn, said it was pleased with the “jury’s verdict in our favor.”
In addition, the aircraft manufacturer is faced with dozens of lawsuits from relatives of crash victims, the vast majority of which have already been settled out of court. Just this month, a US court awarded $49.5 million in damages to the family of a then 24-year-old US citizen who died in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash in March 2019. (sda/apa/afp)