More than 400 Boeing 737 Max pilots are suing the company over what they allege was an «unprecedented cover-up» of «known design flaws» in the plane, and over the financial losses they face as the plane remains grounded after two fatal crashes.
A class-action lawsuit was filed against Boeing on Friday «for financial and other losses arising from the circumstances and grounding of the MAX fleet,» according to the two law firms representing the pilots, based in Chicago and Australia.
While they said that they could not yet calculate the size of pilots’ losses, they «are expected to be in the millions of dollars,» the law firms said.
The 737 Max has been grounded around the world since March, after a second fatal crash involving the plane killed 157 people in Ethiopia. The first crash in Indonesia in October 2018 killed 189 people.
The law firms said that this «adversely affected» pilots’ income and gave them career uncertainty, and that they were filing the lawsuit during the Paris Air Show «to send a message to Boeing that its desire for aircraft sales must never again impact on aviation safety.»
In the court documents, the pilots allege that Boeing «engaged in an unprecedented cover-up of the known design flaws of the MAX, which predictably resulted in the crashes of two MAX aircraft and subsequent grounding of all MAX aircraft worldwide,» according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
The suit says that the pilots «continue to suffer significant lost wages, among other economic and non-economic damages» since the fleet’s global grounding…
