DOJ Expands Probe Of Boeing 737 MAX To 787 Dreamliner: Report

The Department of Justice reportedly expanded its probe of the Boeing 737 MAX to the aircraft manufacturer’s behemoth 787 Dreamliner model, according to The Seattle Times Friday.

The subpoenas were issued to individual employees at Boeing 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina in early June, an unnamed source familiar with the investigation told The Seattle Times. Two other sources familiar with the investigation confirmed the subpoenas, The Seattle Times said.

It’s unclear how connected the department’s examination of the 787 Dreamliners is with its criminal investigation into design and certification of the 737 MAX. Boeing has not been charged with any crime after two deadly 737 MAX crashes within the last year. A Lion Air flight from Jakarta, Indonesia, crashed and killed 189 people in October 2018. Then an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed and killed all 157 people on board in March.

Reports that the justice department is taking a look at the 787 Dreamliners made in North Charleston, South Carolina, comes after an April story in The New York Times that described the plant as “plagued by shoddy production and weak oversight.”

The South Carolina plant makes about half of the 787 Dreamliners, which were grounded as a fleet in January 2013 after two battery-overheating incidents, according to The Seattle Times.

Reports of the 787 Dreamliner probe come after the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it is requesting an additional fix for the flaw that affected two 737 MAX planes involved in the October and March crashes.

Neither Boeing nor Justice Department spokespeople would comment on the matter to The Seattle Times. Boeing and the Justice Department did not return the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment at the time of publication.