Boeing begins payments to bereaved families

Families have until Dec. 31 to file a claim to receive $144,000 for the deaths of their loved ones in the crashes of Boeing 737 Max airplanes. Dozens of families are suing the Chicago-based company after planes went down in October 2018 and March of this year, killing nearly 350 people flying out of Indonesia and Ethiopia. “$144,000 doesn’t come close to compensating any of our families or any of the families,” Nomaan Husain, a Texas-based attorney who is representing 15 families, told the BBC. “This is not something that is going to satisfy the families. The families really want answers.”

When will the 737 Max fly again? Boeing has nearly completed improvements to the planes, but Stephen Dickson, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said Monday the agency has no timetable for reviewing the changes. Countries around the world grounded the planes after the crashes.

Dig deeper: Read Lynde Langdon’s report in The Sift about how Boeing executives failed to respond to pilots’ concerns about the 737 Max.