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Chinelo Obogo
Boeing has said it will pay families who lost relatives in the ill-fated Max 737 flight about $144,500 (£116,200) each.
The money comes from a $50million financial assistance fund, which Boeing announced in July. The fund has started accepting claims, which must be submitted before 2020.
Two fatal plane crashes rocked the US aircraft maker and the aviation industry, forcing the worldwide grounding of the Chicago-based company’s 737 Max airliners.
On November 28, 2018, a lion air flight crashed into the sea moments after takeoff in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. Also on March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. It was the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet in five months.
Two Nigerians, a professor and writer, Pius Adesanmi, and Ambassador Abiodun Bashua, a former Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan, were among the 157 people that died in the Ethiopian Airlines jet crash. “This is not something that is going to satisfy the families. The families really want answers.” A source said, in response to the announcement
The 737 Max has been grounded since March, as investigators attempt to evaluate the airplane’s safety status following the fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which claimed the lives of more than 340 people.
Boeing in July pledged $100million to families and communities affected by the crashes. The company later said half of the money would be reserved for direct payments to families, with the other half set aside for education and development programmes in affected communities.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has taken delivery of consignments of equipment for category 3 Instrument Landing Systems/Distance Measuring Equipment (ILS/DME) for Lagos and Abuja airports.
The consignments which were cleared over the weekend from Apapa wharf are already at the premises of the agency in Lagos.
