Boeing Chief Acknowledges ‘Mistake’ Over 737 Max

INA – BRUSSLES

Boeing’s chief executive said on Sunday that the company made a “mistake” in how it handled a cockpit warning light on the 737 Max. Dennis Muilenburg, the executive, made the comments while addressing reporters on the eve of the Paris Air Show, one of the most important sales events for aircraft manufacturers around the world.

When Boeing began delivering the Max to airlines in 2017, the company believed that the light was operational on all the jets. But after the Max began flying that year, engineers at the company learned that the warning light would work only if a carrier had purchased a separate cockpit indicator.

Most Max customers, including Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, did not buy the separate indicator. That left many airlines without a functional warning light.

The company did not inform regulators or airlines about the problem for about a year, after conducting an internal review that determined that the issue “did not adversely impact airplane safety or operation,” Boeing said in a statement last month.