Southwest Airlines cuts Boeing 737 MAX flights through early November
Southwest Airlines has again revised its schedule to pull Boeing 737 MAX jets from future flights as the planes remain grounded.
The troubled jets are off Southwest’s schedule through Nov. 2 as it remains uncertain when they’ll be allowed to fly again, the airline announced Thursday. Southwest had previously only planned to ground the planes through Oct. 1.
The schedule change means Southwest will remove about 180 daily flights from its schedule.
“By proactively removing the MAX from scheduled service, we can reduce last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruptions to our customers’ travel plans,” Southwest said in the announcement.
A “limited number” of customers who had already booked seats on affected flights are being notified about changes to their travel plans, according to the airline.
“We offer our apologies to our customers impacted by this change, and we thank them for their continued patience,” the airline said.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all 737 MAX jets after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed in March. It was the second MAX plane crash in six months, and nearly 350 people were killed between the two crashes.
FAA Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell said in an interview with FOX Business’ Liz Claman this week that the FAA found some “anomalies” with the 737 MAX.
Officials have not said when the jets will be cleared to fly again. Elwell said the FAA has instructed Boeing to correct the issues it found.
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United Airlines and American Airlines have also removed 737 MAX jets from their schedules through early November. Boeing has also stopped shipping the planes as they work on a fix, and United CFO Gerry Laderman said this week that the delay will affect the airline into 2020.
“None of Boeing’s customers know right now exactly when they are going to get their scheduled MAX deliveries,” he said. “We won’t fully catch up next year."
FOX Business' Henry Fernandez and Joe Williams contributed to this report.