U.S. airlines that lost summer ticket sales when the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX forced them to cancel flights on the jetliner now fear a dent in winter-holiday sales.
American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines, the three U.S. carriers that fly the embattled single-aisle jet, have removed it from flight schedules as far away as October and November, indicating it may be out of service months longer than originally expected.
At American, which extended cancellations through Nov. 2, about 115 flights per day will be affected. United projects more than 8,000 flights will be impacted from July through October after scrapping 737 MAX trips through Nov. 3, and Southwest said cancellations through Oct. 1 will remove about 150 flights a day from its schedule.
Boeing has been working since mid-March to obtain regulatory approval for a patch to anti-stall software, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which was linked to two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, prompting regulators to sideline the comparatively new airliner.
Boeing completed the fix in May, bringing the jets one step closer to returning to commercial service. But federal regulators have not yet signed off, and both the FAA and Boeing have identified additional problems with the jet that prompted the plane-maker to develop further software enhancements, according to reports.
Though it’s unclear when the 737 MAX will return to the skies, American said it is confident the aircraft will be recertified before the end of the year.
Last week, Chicago-based Boeing reported a decline in aircraft deliveries for the first six months of 2019 and for the third straight month received no new orders for the jet, which had been its best-selling model.
Rival Airbus, however, saw a 28% boost in its plane deliveries for the first half of the year.
