Airlines extend Boeing 737 Max cancellations into autumn
The aircraft has been grounded since March
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Your support makes all the difference.Airlines are extending Boeing 737 Max cancellations into the autumn as the jet waits to be recertified.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines said in a statement that it was removing the Max from its schedule until 1 October, which means roughly 150 flights a day out of 4,000 will be cancelled.
United and American Airlines are removing the Max from schedules until 3 September. The move is to reduce the number of last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruption, according to the airlines.
The aircraft was grounded worldwide in March following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.
There is no clarity on when the aircraft might return to service.
In both the Lion Air accident in Indonesia on 29 October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines crash near Addis Ababa on 10 March 2019, an anti-stall system known as MCAS forced the nose down despite the best efforts of the pilots to save the aircraft.
Boeing has been working on a fix to the software glitch and is currently awaiting approval from the regulator.
The planemaker says: “Boeing engineers and test pilots are working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration and international regulatory authorities to develop, test and certify updates to the 737 MAX to help ensure MCAS never contributes to an accident again.”
This week, a new flaw that could result in the plane’s nose pitching downwards had been found on the Boeing 737 Max, the airline manufacturer said.
The flight management computer problem in the plane’s system was discovered by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) test pilots when using updated Max software in a flight simulator, Boeing said.
Less than a quarter of passengers would be happy to fly on a Boeing 737 Max after its two fatal crashes, according to a Twitter poll conducted by The Independent.
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