WASHINGTON, Oct 08 (AFP): Pilots from Texas-based Southwest Airlines said Monday they had filed a lawsuit against Boeing, accusing it of "deliberately misleading" them over the 737 MAX, which has been grounded after two deadly crashes.
Nearly 350 people died in crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia in March this year.
"We have to be able to trust Boeing to truthfully disclose the information we need to safely operate our aircraft," captain Jonathan Weaks, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), said.
"In the case of the 737 MAX, that absolutely did not happen."
The grounding of the 737 MAX since March eliminated more than 30,000 scheduled Southwest flights and caused over $100 million in lost wages for pilots, SWAPA said.
Southwest is the largest operator of the 737 MAX, and the aircraft may not return to passenger service until 2020.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Dallas, Texas, said Boeing had falsely claimed the plane was airworthy.
In both crashes, pilots had difficulty controlling the plane once the MCAS anti-stall handling system was activated, according to preliminary investigations.
Meanwhile, International aviation officials meeting in Montreal pledged on Monday to step up their efforts to limit carbon emissions over the long-term, despite pushback from China and Russia, the ICAO announced.
The 193 member countries of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) "committed to working" on setting a 2050 target for curbing airline CO2 emissions, a source close to the talks told the news agency.
But they put off taking a decision until their next meeting in 2022.
ICAO delegates also reaffirmed their support in a 92-25 vote (and 10 abstentions) for a global CO2 offsetting mechanism agreed at their 2016 meeting, called Corsia or Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation.
China and Russia, backed by India, demanded a secret ballot on the motion. They believe that Corsia penalizes developing countries.
"The Europeans and in particular France ran up against a coalition led by China and Russia, which limited expected advances," France's Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said in a statement.
Under Corsia, airlines will have to stabilise their emissions from 2020. From 2021, they would have to purchase carbon credits to offset emissions exceeding these levels.
Until the end of 2026, membership in the mechanism is voluntary.
In parallel with Corsia, airlines and manufacturers in 2009 set themselves the goal of halving emissions by 2050 from 2005 levels.
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