A big part of the solution that does not involve the government is the market reaction driven by sometimes irrational consumer behavior. Some passengers are now weary of all recent Boeing designs, and even of the excelent 737. The margins are razor thin and if 5% decide to book elsewhere, it can turn a profitable route into a flop.
So Boing will pay not only the massive costs of withdrawing the MAX since orders for it are plummeting. But this event will affect all its business. This is why there is lobbying/political pressure to divert at least some of the blame, the implications are in the tens of billions in the next few years.
So the good news is that the company will be forced to clean-up its act voluntarily, a similar safety disaster could mean extinction.
I wish that kind of free-market-driven correction were possible, but passengers have no control over which airplanes they fly in. You don't book tickets with Boeing or Airbus; you book tickets with Southwest or Spirit, and even if they tell you the make of the plane you'll be flying, they can change it up at any time without refunding you.
Many european airlines announced a no questions asked refund policy on 737 Max tickets. Even Ryanair who initially rejected the idea, latter made a U-turn under pressure from concerned passengers: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/ryanair...
The refund would be made at gate level, since the plane allocations are made in the last minute.
It's certainly a factor behind the hundreds of MAX orders that were canceled thus far. Fitch lowered it's delivery estimate from 700 to 75 MAX planes for 2020.
So Boing will pay not only the massive costs of withdrawing the MAX since orders for it are plummeting. But this event will affect all its business. This is why there is lobbying/political pressure to divert at least some of the blame, the implications are in the tens of billions in the next few years.
So the good news is that the company will be forced to clean-up its act voluntarily, a similar safety disaster could mean extinction.