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U.S. Probes Whistleblower Complaints About Boeing 737 Max: WSJ

U.S. aviation and congressional officials are investigating allegations by about a dozen whistleblowers that there are safety issues with Boeing Co.’s 737 Max aircraft, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified government employees familiar with the matter.

FILE - In a March 13, 2019 file photo, an American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 sits at a boarding gate at LaGuardia Airport in New York. American Airlines expects to take a $1 billion hit from two things it didn't expect when 2019 started: That its newest Boeing jet would be grounded for months after two deadly crashes, and that oil prices would rise. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
FILE - In a March 13, 2019 file photo, an American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 sits at a boarding gate at LaGuardia Airport in New York. American Airlines expects to take a $1 billion hit from two things it didn't expect when 2019 started: That its newest Boeing jet would be grounded for months after two deadly crashes, and that oil prices would rise. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)Read moreFrank Franklin II / AP
    by Jim Jia, Bloomberg
    Published 

(Bloomberg) — U.S. aviation and congressional officials are investigating allegations by about a dozen whistleblowers that there are safety issues with Boeing Co.’s 737 Max aircraft, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified government employees familiar with the matter.

Some of the claims relate to the design of a suspect flight-control feature or operation of specific sensors that are key to fatal crashes of two 737 Max jets, according to the report.

The allegations were made by Federal Aviation Administration staff and current and former Boeing employees, whose identities are confidential, the officials told the Journal. No details of the allegations have been made public, the Journal said.

Two phone calls to Boeing media relations team from Bloomberg outside the regular business hours went unanswered.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Jia in Sydney at jjia1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley James, John McCluskey

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.