The Justice Department is considering allowing Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution for violating the terms of a 2021 settlement related to problems with the company’s 737 Max 8 model that led to two deadly plane crashes in 2018 and 2019, according to people familiar with the discussions. The department is expected to make a decision on the case by the end of the month. Prosecutors have not made a final call, nor have they ruled out bringing charges against Boeing or negotiating a possible plea deal in which the company admits some culpability, the people said. It is possible that any negotiated resolution — either in the form of an agreement to defer prosecution or a plea deal in which the company would admit wrongdoing — would include the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the company’s safety protocols. Offering Boeing what is known as a deferred prosecution agreement, which is often used to impose monitoring and compliance obligations on businesses accused of financial crimes or corruption, as opposed to trying to convict the company, would avoid the uncertainties of a criminal trial. But it would anger families of passengers killed in recent crashes who want to see the company pay for its safety lapses. And while prosecutors are considering a new agreement, they recently told the families that they had not ruled out bringing charges, according to a person briefed on the exchange. Federal prosecutors said in May that Boeing had violated a previous deferred prosecution agreement by failing to set up and maintain a program to detect and prevent violations of U.S. anti-fraud laws. The settlement was reached in 2021, after Boeing admitted in court that two of its employees had misled federal air safety regulators about a part that was at fault in the two crashes. The aircraft manufacturer’s violation of that settlement allowed the Justice Department to file criminal charges. But some department officials have expressed concern that bringing criminal charges against Boeing would be too legally risky. Officials see the appointment of an independent watchdog as a quicker, more efficient way to ensure that the troubled company improves safety, manufacturing and quality control procedures.<br/>
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U.S. prosecutors are recommending to senior Justice Department officials that criminal charges be brought against Boeing after finding the planemaker violated a settlement related to two fatal crashes, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.<br/>The Justice Department must decide by July 7 whether to prosecute Boeing. The recommendation of prosecutors handling the case has not been previously reported. In May, officials determined the company breached a 2021 agreement that had shielded Boeing from a criminal charge of conspiracy to commit fraud arising from two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving the 737 MAX jet. Under the 2021 deal, the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute Boeing over allegations it defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration so long as the company overhauled its compliance practices and submitted regular reports. Boeing also agreed to pay $2.5b to settle the investigation. Boeing declined to comment. It has previously said it has "honored the terms" of the 2021 settlement, which had a three-year term and is known as a deferred prosecution agreement. Boeing has told the Justice Department it disagrees with its determination that the company violated the settlement, Reuters reported this month. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment. The two sides are in discussions over a potential resolution to the Justice Department's investigation and there is no guarantee officials will move forward with charges, the two sources said. The internal Justice Department deliberations remain ongoing and no final decisions have been reached, they added.<br/>
Conservative MP Lianne Rood has put forward a private member's bill that would ensure flight attendants are paid for their pre- and post-flight duties. Flight attendants have been advocating for changes to the labour code because they don't start getting paid until their plane is in motion — and their compensation ends when the plane stops at the gate after landing. "This is unfair and puts many women and diverse Canadians at a disadvantage," Rood said Wednesday as she tabled the bill. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) air division — which represents 18,000 flight attendants — says that on average, flight attendants do 35 hours of unpaid work per month. That includes such duties as overseeing the boarding and unboarding process. C-409 would amend the labour code by adding a section requiring that flight attendants be paid for "carrying out all pre-flight and post-flight duties relating to aircraft security and passenger service, including assisting with embarking and disembarking and pre-flight cabin and passenger safety checks." Wesley Lesosky, a flight attendant and president of CUPE's air division, said the bill being introduced is "momentous." "I think it's amazing that we're growing the support behind the payment for flight attendants, so we're very happy to see that something has been introduced," he said. But Lesosky said the Conservatives didn't consult with the union before tabling the bill and it could use some tweaks. As it stands, the bill says that flight attendants should be compensated for completing mandatory training. But Lesosky said that language needs to be altered to specify that attendants must receive their full hourly wage for mandatory training.<br/>
Manchester Airport, one of the UK’s busiest airports, has been hit by a power cut, causing delays and disruption for its passengers. A “significant number of flights” operating from the airport in northern England have been impacted by a “major” power cut in the area, the airport said Sunday. “Manchester Airport was affected by a major power cut in the area earlier this morning. This has caused widespread disruption and a significant number of flights, particularly from Terminals 1 and 2, are expected to be delayed or cancelled,” the airport said. Footage posted to social media showed long lines building up at the airport’s terminals, with passengers expressing their frustration at the delays and lack of information provided. “Thousands of people were stood around outside just being told to queue for baggage, with the only announcements being the same, ‘Thank you for your patience,’” said Eva Horsefield, a passenger who was waiting at the airport. “1000s of people were sat on the cold floor for 6+ hours,” she added. Katie McGovern said the situation was “awful.” She arrived in Manchester from Fuerteventura with her four-year-old daughter at 1:25am local time. They waited in long lines for passport control and were told to go to a different terminal – a 40 minute walk – to retrieve their luggage. “No pram offered, no water, no chair to help get her there. When we did, it was rammed, people running about, nearly taking out my daughter,” she told CNN. “My daughter fell asleep on the floor with people running around her – it was horrendous,” she said. Eventually, they arrived home at 8:30am. The airport has since said “power has been restored,” but reiterated that a “number of flights are likely to be cancelled.”<br/>
Uganda has signed a pact with a business association from the United Arab Emirates to build a new international airport, President Yoweri Museveni's office said on Friday. The deal for the East African nation's third such airport expands the UAE's economic footprint beyond its interests in the renewable energy and oil and gas industries. The UAE's Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry will build the airport just outside the Kidepo National Park in the northeast near Uganda's border with Kenya, Museveni's office said in a statement, without giving the cost. Construction will start in August, said Abdallah Sultan Al Owais, chairman of the Sharjah business body. The airport will boost tourism by drawing visitors to the 1,442-sq-km (557-sq-mile) Kidepo park known for lions, giraffes, buffaloes and other big game. The agreement was "a sign of the deepening relations with our Gulf partners and another opportunity to co-operate in investment and trade", Museveni, who witnessed the signing, said in a post on X.<br/>
Changi Airport’s website suffered a brief outage at about 4am on June 21, and it went back online soon after. The disruption had no impact on airport operations, airport operator Changi Airport Group (CAG) said in a statement on the evening of June 21. “Changi Airport Group’s information technology team responded and restored the website shortly after,” CAG said. The website, which shows information on arriving and departing flights as well as maps of the airport’s terminals, was unavailable for about 1½ hours. CAG declined comment when contacted by The Straits Times for more information, such as the cause of the disruption, whether any data was lost as a result, and if the disruption was a cyber attack. The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) said it was aware of the service disruption to the airport website and was working with CAG on the case. “Organisations are encouraged to proactively monitor and check their IT networks regularly for signs of suspicious activity,” CSA said.<br/>
Chinese state-owned planemaker COMAC has the opportunity to break Airbus and Boeing's duopoly of the passenger jet market over the next decade, the chief of aircraft leasing company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) told Reuters. Airbus and Boeing are the main suppliers of aircraft to airlines, but the European planemaker is struggling to boost production amid record orders and Boeing is under scrutiny from regulators after a mid-air panel blowout on a new plane in January. The narrow-body C919 jet, which is manufactured by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) and is pitted against Airbus' A320 and Boeing's 737 MAX, is a "perfectly fine aircraft", Firoz Tarapore said in a recent interview. "Over the next decade COMAC has a unique opportunity to break this duopoly into a triopoly because on the one hand Airbus is sold out, and Boeing is having production problems," he said in Dubai this month. COMAC's planes fly almost exclusively within China and with one Indonesian airline. The planemaker is pursuing certification with Europe's aviation regulator for its C919 jet while also looking for international customers. Aviation industry sources, however, caution that COMAC is a long way from making inroads internationally, especially without benchmark certifications from the United States or European Union, or more efficient planes.<br/>