In October 2018, all 189 on a Lion Air flight died after the aircraft crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after take-off from Jakarta, Indonesia.

In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed six minutes after take-off from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. All 157 on-board were killed.

Both crashes were linked to faulty flight control systems.

Mr Calhoun acknowledged in his Congressional appearance that the company had made mistakes and said it had “learned” from the past.

He also acknowledged that Boeing had retaliated against whistleblowers but said he had “listened” to those employees.

The Justice Department is considering whether to revive a criminal charge of fraud against Boeing laid in 2021, that was linked to the two crashes.