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American Airlines extends flight cancellations because of Boeing’s 737 Max grounding

Posted at 11:18 AM, Jul 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-14 13:18:34-04

American Airlines is canceling flights into early November because of the Boeing 737 Max grounding.

The world’s largest airline announced Sunday it’s extending cancellations until November 2. It amounts to roughly 115 flight cancellations per day.

“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 a statement.

The move by American doesn’t come as a surprise. The US Federal Aviation Administration and safety regulators around the world have not cleared the troubled plane for operations. The plane was grounded in March following two fatal crashes.

Boeing’s efforts to get the plane back in the air hit another snag last month. A new potential problem with the jet was discovered during testing — making it possible the 737 Max will be grounded in to late 2019 or early 2020. CNN Business reported last monththat the crisis would likely drag down Boeing’s profits into next year.

American Airlines previously canceled flights through September 2. The airline has 24 of Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max jets in its fleet. American had said that flights that were originally scheduled on a Max plane will not be canceled, with some being substituted with other aircraft.

Earlier this month, American became the first US airlineto ax a route due to the grounding. It canceled a nonstop round-trip flight between its hub in Dallas, Texas and Oakland, California.

–CNN Business’ Chris Isidore and Victoria Cavaliere contributed to this report.