American Airlines extends Boeing 737 Max flight cancellations through late April
American Airlines said Sunday it would continue canceling flights through April 24 due to the federally-mandated grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
As a result, the airline, which operates 24 Max aircraft, said about 90 flights per day will be canceled.
The air carrier – the largest in the U.S. – said it was cutting the flights to “provide more certainty to our customers and team members and better protect our customers on other flights to their final destination.
American said the advanced cancellations also allow customers to have additional availability and rebooking options. It added that not all flights that were previously scheduled on a Max jet will be canceled.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required all U.S. airlines to ground their fleets of Max aircraft following two fatal accidents involving the 737 Max 8 within five months.
Boeing said it was making changes to its flight-control software, known as MCAS, that was designed to prevent the aircraft from stalling. The system will rely on multiple angle of attack sensors, will push the aircraft’s nose down only once and will make changes more subtly, giving pilots more control.
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Federal regulators have “tentatively” approved the software and pilot-training changes, subject to final ground-simulator and flight checked, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing government documents and people familiar with the details.
Airlines around the world grounded the aircraft an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed earlier this month, killing 157 people. The accident came just months after another 737 Max 8, operated by Lion Air, crashed in the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia, killing 189 people.