American Airlines has extended flight cancellations caused by the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max until 3 December as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to assess the aircraft following two fatal crashes.
This is the fourth such extension the carrier has made since the 737 Max was grounded in March following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight in which 157 people were killed. Less than six months earlier, a Lion Air accident operated by the same model of plane killed all 189 people on board.
The move affects 140 flights per day.
It follows a decision by Southwest Airlines to cancel an average of 200 flights a week due to be operated by the aircraft until 5 January 2020 to mitigate last-minute disruption.
American Airlines still maintains that it is “confident that impending software updates to the Boeing 737 Max, along with new training elements Boeing is developing in coordination with our union partners, will lead to recertification of the aircraft this year”.
The FAA has not put a timeline on when the aircraft could return to service.