American Airlines, which is the largest airline in the world, is forced to cancel approximately 90 flights per day until April 24 due to the termination of flights of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The airline is hopeful that the 737 Max planes will be flying again soon, but said it is canceling flights about a month out as it waits for word from the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Canceling in advance provides additional availability and rebooking options for our customers”, said American Airlines in a statement. “We have balanced [cancellations] across our system. We will vary by day as we look to impact the fewest number of customers”, adds the airline
American Airlines has 24 of the 737 Max 8 jets. But not every flight which had been scheduled to have a 737 Max has been canceled. American said it has rearranged its schedule to use other aircraft to complete some of those flights.
The safety of the Boeing 737 MAX was put under question after aircraft of this type suffered two crashes in less than five months.
At the end of October 2018, the Boeing 737 MAX8 of the Indonesian company Lion Air fell into the Java Sea shortly after departure from Jakarta airport. All 189 people on board died. In March of this year, a similar plane of the airline Ethiopian Airlines, flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, crashed and killed 157 people. The causes of accidents are still not identified, but experts suspect that the cause could be a feature of the aircraft control system. Boeing is currently working with the United States Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) on a software update, which is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
