TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg admitted that the aircraft manufacturer made mistakes in the development of the 737 MAX aircraft. Those mistakes eventually led to two crashes; Ethiopian Airlines 302 and Indonesia's Lion Air JT 610, killing 346 died.

Boeing published Muilenberg's statement to the US Senate committee Monday night local time.

"We have learned and are still learning from these accidents, Mr. Chairman. We know we made mistakes and got some things wrong. We own that, and we are fixing them," Muilenburg told the U.S. Trade Committee, Reuters reported.

In the statement, Muilenberg also said the company made improvements to the 737 MAX so that the device can never again cause such accidents.

Muilenburg, who had been stripped off of his CEO title, is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Committee, then again on Wednesday before the House Transportation Committee

In his statement, Muilenburg expressed his deepest sympathy to the families of the victims. On Monday evening, Muilenburg visited the Indonesian Embassy in Washington to meet the ambassador and offer condolences to the Indonesian people.

October 28 marked the anniversary of the JT610 crash. In Indonesia, flowers were laid on the waters around Tanjung Pakis, Karawang, West Java, to remember the victims.

The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) completed the investigation into the Lion Air JT 610 accident on Friday, 25 October. It said there were nine factors that contributed to the accident; including the design error of the Boeing MCAS — using only one sensor thus making the aircraft vulnerable to interference.

The KNKT also said that the ill-fated Lion Air pilots had difficulties responding quickly and appropriately to the MCAS movement due to lack of guidance in the manuals and during training. The KNKT also found that the AOA Disagree indicator was not available on Boeing 737 MAX 8 PK-LQP aircraft.

BISNIS | DIAS PRASONGKO