# I. What happened?
In the past six months, two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft have been involved in fatal accidents. On October 29, 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by the Indonesian airline Lion Mentari Airlines (Lion Air) crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Jakarta airport, killing all 189 passengers and crew. On March 10, 2019, another Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed shortly after leaving Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.
Boeing’s market value dropped by nearly USD 25 billion in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash.
RepRisk’s unique research approach and methodology picked up early warning signals around the high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk exposure of Boeing before these two tragedies occurred. The company’s high Peak RRI1 score in March 2018 had been triggered by a series of allegations and risk incidents that already raised serious concerns about the business conduct of the company.
