Just days before a closely watched trial was set to begin, aerospace giant Boeing has reached a confidential settlement with Paul Njoroge, the Canadian man who lost his entire family in the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The tragic incident, which claimed 157 lives, remains one of the darkest chapters in modern aviation history and continues to cast a long shadow over Boeing’s safety record.
Njoroge had filed a civil lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages for the devastating emotional toll caused by the crash. His wife, three young children—including a 9-month-old infant—and mother-in-law were among those killed when the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft crashed just minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi.
The emotional weight of the case has been immense. Njoroge, who met his wife while studying in Nairobi, had been living in Canada and planned to reunite with his family in Kenya. In 2019, he gave powerful testimony before the U.S. Congress, vividly recalling the agony of imagining the final moments of his loved ones aboard the doomed flight. He shared how those six minutes of terror continue to haunt him and have left him emotionally shattered and professionally adrift.
Despite the financial compensation, Njoroge has struggled to return to the family’s Toronto home, burdened by grief and personal criticism from some extended family members over not traveling with his wife and children.
While the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed, the lawsuit had threatened to reignite scrutiny over Boeing’s handling of the 737 MAX crisis. The Ethiopian Airlines crash, together with a similar tragedy involving Lion Air in Indonesia five months prior, led to the deaths of 346 people and resulted in the global grounding of the 737 MAX fleet.
This resolution marks a significant moment in the legal aftermath of the crash, but it does little to erase the loss endured by families like Njoroge’s—whose grief continues long after the headlines have faded.
