Flight cancellations of the embattled Boeing 737 Max are creeping closer to the busy holiday travel season, with two major U.S. airlines pulling the jets from their flight schedules through early December as the fleet remains grounded.
American Airlines said Sunday it would remove the 737 Max from its flight schedule until Dec. 3 and expects roughly 140 flights per day will be canceled. United Airlines, meanwhile, is pushing flight cancellations to Dec. 19 and expects to cancel 70 flights per day in September, 95 flights per day in October, 93 flights per day in November, and 96 flights per day in December.
American and United initially extended their flight cancellations through Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, respectively, as Boeing awaits approval from federal and international regulators to return the 737 Max to commercial service.
The two carriers, along with Southwest Airlines, are the only ones to fly the jets in the United States, and all three have taken a hit in the months since the Federal Aviation Administration joined its international counterparts in grounding the planes.
Southwest and American both said last month they expect profits to take a hit due to the protracted grounding. The decision to keep the 737 Max out of the skies also resulted in a $2.9 billion loss for Boeing for the three months through June, the Chicago-based aerospace giant said last month.
The FAA ordered the 737 Max out of commercial service in mid-March after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed all 346 passengers on board the planes. The plane’s anti-stall system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics System, was implicated in both crashes and found to have fed the jets’ computer system inaccurate data on its angle-of-attack, leading to a struggle between the aircraft and the pilot.
In the wake of the crashes, Boeing began working on a software patch for the anti-stall system, and that fix was completed in May. The world’s second largest plane maker plans to submit an application to recertify the jets to the FAA this month.
While Boeing has been working to return the 737 Max to the skies before the end of the year, it is ultimately federal and international regulators that will have the final say in when the grounding of Boeing’s fleet will end. Boeing, meanwhile, has said it is “working tirelessly to meet their requirements.”
Still, American Airlines said it “remains confident that impending software updates to the Boeing 737 MAX,” as well as new training elements, will lead to the jet’s recertification this year.
