Investigation comes amid heightened scrutiny of Boeing’s security document following deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Prosecutors in the USA have opened a felony investigation into the mid-flight blowout involving a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airways, in response to US media experiences.
The Division of Justice (DOJ) has interviewed witnesses together with aircrew as a part of the probe into the January 5 incident wherein a portion of the fuselage blew off mid-flight, the Wall Road Journal and The Washington Put up reported on Saturday.
Alaska Airways mentioned it was cooperating with authorities.
“In an occasion like this, it’s regular for the DOJ to be conducting an investigation. We’re totally cooperating and don’t consider we’re a goal of the investigation,” Alaska Airways mentioned in an announcement to Al Jazeera.
Boeing didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The investigation comes as Boeing is beneath scrutiny over its security document following a sequence of incidents, together with two deadly crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019.
The DOJ probe will inform authorities’ evaluation of whether or not Boeing has complied with the phrases of a $2.5bn settlement to keep away from prosecution in relation to these crashes, the Wall Road Journal reported.
On Monday, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mentioned it had recognized “non-compliance points in Boeing’s manufacturing course of management, elements dealing with and storage, and product management” following an audit of the corporate that included interviews with staff and a go to to its manufacturing line.
The FAA mentioned Boeing would have 90 days to provide you with a plan to right the problems.
A separate FAA report, launched final month however launched earlier than the blowout incident, discovered severe issues with Boeing’s security tradition, together with fears of retaliation amongst staff with security considerations.
Boeing mentioned in a letter to the US Congress on Friday that it was unable to find data for work carried out on the door panel that fell off the Alaska Airways aircraft.
The Seattle-based plane producer has mentioned it believes that data in regards to the panel had been by no means created regardless of firm guidelines requiring such documentation.