US Boeing Co. will pay $1.1bn to avoid litigation over two Boeing 737 MAX jetliner crashes in 2018-2019.
The settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice will, among other things, see the company direct $455 million to strengthen its programmes in the compliance, safety and quality industries, it said in a statement on the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website.
Boeing will pay $444.5 million to the families of the victims. It also faces a $487.2 million fine, but it has already paid half of that amount in 2021.
In addition, the company will continue to improve its anti-fraud compliance and ethics programme.
As part of the agreement, Boeing also admitted to conspiring to obstruct the aircraft evaluation division of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Thanks to the deal, the company will avoid a trial in the plane crash case, which was scheduled to begin on 23 June. The crash of two airliners killed 346 people.