American Airlines has further extended its cancellations of Boeing 737 MAX 8 operations through Aug. 19, the airline announced Sunday.
The announcement follows a similar decision by Southwest Airlines, which announced April 12 that it had changed its schedule through Aug. 5 to account for not putting its 34 MAXs back into service before then.
American has 24 MAXs in its fleet and says about 115 flights per day will be canceled through mid-August, around 1.5% of its total flying this summer. Some of those cancellations will not be MAX flights but they will be needed to transfer aircraft to MAX routes.
In a message posted on American’s website April 14, signed by CEO and chairman Doug Parker and president Robert Isom, the company said it was focused on planning for the year’s travel period. “Our commitment to each other and to our customers is to operate the safest and most reliable operation in our history. To further that mission, we have made the decision to extend our cancellations for the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft through Aug. 19. Based upon our ongoing work with FAA and Boeing, we are highly confident that the MAX will be recertified prior to this time. But by extending our cancellations through the summer, we can plan more reliably for the peak travel season and provide confidence to our customers and team members when it comes to their travel plans. Once the MAX is recertified, we anticipate bringing our MAX aircraft back on line as spares to supplement our operation as needed during the summer.”…
