LOT Polish Airlines has taken Boeing to trial in Seattle over financial losses linked to the grounding of the 737 MAX. The Polish flag carrier claims Boeing hid safety problems with the aircraft when LOT chose the MAX in 2016 as part of its plan to rebuild after earlier financial struggles.
LOT sued Boeing in 2021, seeking damages for revenue losses caused by the global grounding of the 737 MAX. Regulators grounded the aircraft in 2019 after two fatal crashes revealed serious problems linked to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.
“This case is about Boeing’s lies and deception and the devastating financial harm it caused” LOT, the Polish flag carrier’s attorney, Anthony Battista, said during opening statements on Monday.
The case centers on what Boeing knew about MCAS while it was selling the 737 MAX to airlines. LOT’s lawyers argued that Boeing was promoting the aircraft while its engineers were dealing with the jet’s tendency to pitch up under certain conditions. MCAS was created to automatically push the nose down in those situations.
MCAS is central to LOT’s case
LOT’s side argued that Boeing misled the Federal Aviation Administration about MCAS and its flight-test issues. The airline said this helped Boeing avoid more extensive simulator training requirements for pilots already flying earlier 737 models.
Training costs mattered because Boeing was competing directly with Airbus and its A320 family for narrowbody aircraft orders. For airlines, avoiding expensive simulator training was one of the selling points of choosing the 737 MAX over switching to another aircraft type.
Former LOT executive Maciej Wilk told jurors that switching to the A320 would have required “extensive” and costly simulator training.
“And the key promise in all this was about pilot training” for the 737 MAX, he said.
LOT later committed to leasing 15 737 MAX aircraft. The airline argued that it made those decisions without knowing the full safety issues tied to MCAS.
MCAS played a major role in the Lion Air Flight 610 crash in October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash in March 2019. The two accidents killed 346 people.
Boeing questions LOT’s fraud claim
After the Lion Air crash, Boeing executives publicly said the 737 MAX was safe. According to LOT’s case, Boeing sales staff also assured the airline that there were no safety problems with the aircraft.
LOT, like other airlines, continued operating the MAX until regulators grounded the type after the Ethiopian Airlines crash. The aircraft returned to service about 20 months later after regulators reviewed design changes to MCAS and added pilot training requirements.
Boeing’s attorney pushed back against LOT’s claim, saying the airline continues to operate the 737 MAX today while accusing Boeing of fraud in court. The attorney questioned whether that was how a victim of a major fraud scheme would behave.
Boeing has already paid large amounts to families of those killed in the two crashes and reached out-of-court settlements with airlines affected by the MAX grounding. The exact total paid to airlines has not been publicly disclosed.
LOT is the first airline to bring Boeing to trial over a lawsuit tied to the 737 MAX crashes and grounding.
Source: Reuters