Tuesday saw the US Justice Department make the announcement that Boeing may be prosecuted for two consecutive 737 Max crashes that occurred over five years ago and killed 346 people. Department officials wrote to a Texas federal court claiming that Boeing had broken terms of a deal that had previously protected the company from liability for the mishaps.

In response, Boeing said they plan to defend themselves and that they think they have followed the conditions of the deal.

Boeing violated the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) according to US authorities because it did not create and maintain an ethical and compliance program to stop US fraud laws from being broken throughout its operations. Boeing might thus be prosecuted for any federal law infractions connected to the disasters.

Currently evaluating its options, the government has asked Boeing to respond by June 13. Officials will also confer with the relatives of those who perished on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610.

Representing the relatives of crash victims, attorney Paul Cassell applauded the development as a good first step and pushed the Department of Justice to take more action. He said he planned to look into specifics of a fair settlement for Boeing's wrongdoing.

Fears over the automated flight system of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft caused their temporary grounding worldwide following the events involving the aircraft in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Boeing underlined that it will work with the Department of Justice and that it will be transparent during the inquiry.