By Anthony Marcus for Eurasia Business News, March 25, 2025. Article no.1461.

A federal judge in Texas, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, has ordered Boeing to stand trial on June 23 in a criminal case related to the 737 MAX aircraft crashes.

This decision marks a significant development in the ongoing legal saga surrounding Boeing’s culpability in the two deadly crashes that resulted in the loss of 346 lives.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor did not explain in the scheduling order he issued on Tuesday why he decided to set the case for trial. Lawyers for the aerospace company and the Justice Department have spent months trying to renegotiate a July 2024 plea agreement that called for Boeing to plead guilty to a single felony charge.

The trial date was set after Judge O’Connor rejected an initial settlement proposal between Boeing and the U.S. Justice Department. The proposal included a provision related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which was not accepted by the judge. Despite ongoing negotiations for a revised plea agreement, the trial is now scheduled to proceed as planned.

The deal the judge refused to approve would have averted a criminal trial by allowing Boeing plead guilty to conspiring to defraud Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved minimal pilot-training requirements for the 737 Max nearly a decade ago. More intensive training in flight simulators would have increased the cost for airlines to operate the then-new plane model.

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This case involves allegations that Boeing misled regulators about the safety of the 737 MAX, leading to the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The trial will focus on whether Boeing engaged in a conspiracy to deceive the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the aircraft’s safety features.

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© Copyright 2025 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1461.