WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US federal judge on Tuesday announced a trial date of June 23 for a criminal case against Boeing over two deadly 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.
In two court filings, district court Judge Reed O’Connor from Fort Worth, Texas said he was vacating an April 11 deadline for the aircraft manufacturing giant and prosecutors to announce progress on a plea deal, and moving ahead with the trial over the two crashes, in which 346 people died.
In a statement, Boeing said it was still engaged in “good faith discussions” with the Justice Department regarding an “appropriate” resolution of the matter.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the case. There was no immediate reaction from the families’ US lawyers.
Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to fraud after the Justice Department found the company failed to improve its compliance and ethics program, in breach of a deferred prosecution agreement following the two deadly MAX crashes.
That deal was concluded in January 2021 to address the disasters in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
But in December, a judge in Texas rejected the 2024 settlement over apparent flaws in the selection process for a monitor to ensure Boeing’s compliance, sending the company and the government back to continue discussions.
It was not immediately clear why O’Connor decided to cancel the April 11 deadline for the plea deal and to move directly to trial instead.
