This archive report was first published on 22 June 2021.
On June 22, 2021, the US opened a $500 million victim fund to compensate the heirs, relatives, and beneficiaries of passengers who died in Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2018 and 2019.
The Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport on March 10, 2019, killed 149 people, including 32 Kenyans.
Administrator Ken Feinberg and Camille Biros told Reuters that each eligible family would receive nearly $1.45 million, with payments made on a rolling basis as claim forms are submitted and completed.
Boeing agreed to pay the settlement in January after the US Department of Justice found the airline had design flaws it kept from regulators and pilots.
The final report on the Boeing 737 MAX, released in September 2020, found 'repeated and serious failures' by Boeing and identified the key factors that contributed to the Boeing 737 MAX crash, including design flaws and profit and production priorities at the expense of safety.
