American Airlines Extends Boeing Plane Flight Cancellations

In this Monday, April 29, 2019 file photo, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg speaks during a news conference after the company's annual shareholders meeting at the Field Museum in Chicago. Boeing’s CEO says the company made a “mistake” in handling a problematic cockpit warning system in 737 Max jets ahead of two deadly crashes of the top-selling plane. Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg told reporters in Paris on Sunday, June 16 that the company’s communication “was not consistent,” calling that “unacceptable.”(AP Photo/Jim Young, file)

American Airlines said Sunday that it will keep the Boeing 737 Max plane off its schedule until Nov. 3, which is two months longer than it had planned.

In a statement, American said the action will result in the cancellation of about 115 flights per day. It said it “remains confident” that the Boeing plane will be recertified this year. But some airline executives are growing doubtful about that timetable.

United Airlines announced Friday that it was extending its cancellations until Nov. 3, a month longer than it had planned.

United has 14 Max jets while American has 24 of them. Southwest Airlines, which has 34 Max jets — more than any other carrier — is canceling about 150 flights per day.

The plane was grounded in March following two deadly crashes.

The announcement Sunday marked the fifth time that American Airlines has pushed back the expected time that the Max would resume flying.

“American Airlines remains confident that impending software updates to the Boeing 737 Max, along with the new training elements Boeing is developing in coordination with our union partners, will lead to recertification of the aircraft this year,” the airline said.

In its previous announcement of further flight cancellations last month, American Airlines had said it had expected the recertification to be accomplished “soon.”

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines, said, “I expect it’s going to take longer than people expect” before the Max is certified to fly again. He said he could not venture a guess as to when that might occur.

The Federal Aviation Administration has said it is following a thorough process but has no timetable for when the recertification will be completed.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that fixing the 737 Max’s faulty flight-control software and completing other steps to start carrying passengers will likely stretch into 2020.

Unnamed officials at the FAA and pilot-union leaders were quoted as saying that no firm timeline has been established but one scenario anticipates the plane could return to the air in January 2020.

(AP)