American Airlines cancels Boeing 737 Max flights through November

Just a couple of days after United Airlines announced that it was canceling more than 5,000 Boeing 737 Max flights through October, American Airlines has announced that it would suspend flights on the beleaguered passenger jet through November 2nd.

The airliner had canceled flights through September 3rd, but after the FAA discovered a new problem with the aircraft’s flight computer, it opted to push the aircraft’s return to service until later in the fall.

American Airlines says that the removal of the aircraft means that it will have to cancel around 115 flights each day, and has said that it will cost the company upwards of $185 million during its second quarter this year.

In its release, the company says that it “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 has 24 737 Max jets, and according to CNBC, has 76 on order from Boeing.

The crashes and subsequent response has brought intense pressure on Boeing, which grounded the 737 Max in March after it discovered that a software issue caused two fatal crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. That software — known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) — helped the plane compensate for the design of the aircraft. But in the event of a damaged sensor, the system would push the plane’s nose down, thinking that the vehicle was in a stall, and would ultimately put it into a dive. Critically, pilots weren’t properly trained on the system, and didn’t know how to correct for the problems it could cause.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/14/20693730/american-airlines-cancels-boeing-737-max-flights-november