American Airlines extends Boeing 737 Max flight cancellations through early November
American Airlines said Sunday it will extend cancellations of flights on Boeing 737 Max aircraft through early November.
In its announcement, the fourth of its kind for the nation’s largest air carrier, American said about 115 flights per day will be canceled through Nov. 2. Last month the airline said it was extending cancellations through early September. United Airlines made a similar announcement on Friday that flights on Max aircraft would be canceled through Nov. 3.
American flies the second largest number of Boeing Max jets (24), which makes it the second only to Southwest which flies 34, and has 76 on order from the Chicago-based airplane maker.
“American Airlines remains confident that impending software updates to the Boeing 737 MAX, along with the new training elements Boeing is developing in coordination with our union partners, will lead to recertification of the aircraft this year,” the airline said in a statement.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA | THE BOEING CO. | 164.34 | -4.83 | -2.86% |
| AAL | AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC. | 13.92 | -0.31 | -2.18% |
| UAL | UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. | 52.67 | -1.36 | -2.52% |
| LUV | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. | 29.29 | -0.17 | -0.58% |
As a result of the ongoing cancellations, American cut its annual profit forecast in late April and said the groundings would cost the airline $350 million.
The Max aircraft was grounded worldwide in March after two fatal crashes involving the jet. An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed in March killing 157 people, and in October, a Lion Air Max jet crashed off the coast of Indonesia killing 189 people.
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Boeing has been working to change and upgrade the Max’s flight-control software, known as MCAS, which was designed to prevent the aircraft from stalling. The system was linked to the Ethiopian and Lion Air crashes.
The aerospace giant also faced another setback late last month, when the Federal Aviation Administration found a new risk with the Max jet during a simulator test, according to Reuters.