US formally moves to dismiss criminal case against Boeing over crashes

Boeing’s factory in Washington. File picture: Lindsey Wasson/AP

The US Justice Department has formally moved to dismiss a criminal fraud charge against Boeing and asked a judge to cancel an upcoming trial connected to two plane crashes that killed 346 people off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia.

The deal, announced last week, will allow the American aircraft manufacturer to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading US regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before the planes crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019.