Boeing has agreed to pay at least $ 17 million for dispute settlement

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has agreed to pay at least $ 17 million (€ 12.94 million) to settle two cases involving the installation of unapproved equipment on hundreds of 737 aircraft. It must also take several corrective actions to improve quality control in the production of these models. The cases were reported in 2019 and 2020 and involve the installation of so-called Head-up Guidance Systems and wing equipment that do not meet federal standards. The violation affected both the MAX and older models known as the Next Generation, but was not directly related to the two 737 MAX accidents that led to the grounding of the aircraft. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a press release on Thursday. This is the highest fine in recent years, which will again damage the reputation of 737 aircraft after nearly two years of grounding and deal another blow to Boeing at a time when it is struggling with billions in losses and facing several disputes. The US Congress last week asked for records to begin an investigation into ongoing quality failures in the company. In addition, if Boeing does not improve its operations, it will have to pay another $ 10.1 million. The Group agreed to strengthen component control, improve oversight of component suppliers, and allow FAA inspectors to monitor the production process more closely. This settlement agreement comes months after the company agreed to pay $ 6.6 million in a separate case in connection with its 2015 promise to make improvements that could not be achieved. In January, the group agreed to settle federal criminal reports that it had hidden information about the MAX design from accidents. In this case, the company paid fines and damages of $ 2.5 billion. "We take our responsibility for complying with all regulatory requirements very seriously," Boeing said in a statement. "These fines result from problems that arose in 2019 and that we have completely solved in our production system and supply chain," Boeing added.