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Boeing CEO apologises for lives lost in 737 Max crashes, vows to make it safest airplane

The report from Ethiopia’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has recommended that Boeing re-examine its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

Boeing CEO apologises for lives lost in 737 Max crashes, vows to make it safest airplane

Boeing CEO, Dennis Muilenburg gestures during an event at the Farnborough Airshow, south west of London. (File Photo: AFP)

Boeing’s CEO Dennis Muilenburg apologized on Thursday for lives lost in deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia but said the plane manufacturer remains confident in the “fundamental safety” of the 737 Max aircraft.

Upcoming software updates to its automated control system will make it “among the safest airplanes ever to fly,” Muilenburg said.

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The report from Ethiopia’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau spelled more bad news for Boeing, as it recommended that Boeing re-examine its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

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“We at Boeing are sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 Max accidents,” Muilenburg said in the statement, adding that a software update is expected to be finished and certified in the coming weeks.

The update intends to “eliminate the possibility of unintended MCAS activation and prevent an MCAS-related accident from ever happening again,” he said.

A lawsuit against Boeing Co was filed in US federal court last month in what appeared to be the first suit over a March 10 Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crash that killed 157 people.

157 people were killed after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed 6 minutes after take-off from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday.

In October last year, an aircraft operated by Lion Air crashed killing over 180 people in Indonesia.

Boeing has claimed that it has reprogrammed software on its 737 Max to prevent erroneous data from triggering an anti-stall system that is facing mounting scrutiny in the wake of two deadly nose-down crashes in the past five months.

(With inputs from AFP)

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