Boeing is giving $100m (N36bn) to help families affected by the two crashes of the company’s 737 Max planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The payment, stretching over several years, is independent of lawsuits filed in the wake of the disasters, which killed 346 people.
The loss of Ethiopian Airlines’ flight ET302 in March was the second fatal accident involving a 737 Max in the space of five months. A near identical aircraft, owned by the Indonesian carrier Lion Air, went down in the sea off Jakarta in October 2018. Two Nigerians – Ambassador Abiodun Bashua and Professor Pius Adesanmi – died in the second crash.
The money will support education and living expenses for families and community programmes, Boeing said. Lawyers for victims’ families dismissed the move.
