Airlines American Airlines extends 737 MAX grounding to November

In a statement, the airline said that it expects flight cancellation through November 2nd, 2019. American Airlines remains to be in close talks with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The carrier stated: "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."

By furthermore extending the grounding of its 737 MAX aircraft, more customers will experience flight cancellations and other impairments. The carrier also said that customers and team members now can more reliably plan their upcoming travels.

Through November, approximately 115 flights per day will be cancelled. American currently has 24 737 MAX 8 aircraft in its fleet. After two fatal crashes with over 300 casualties in Indonesia and Ethiopia, all aviation authorities around the world decided to ground the fleet for safety reasons.

Since then, Boeing has been working on getting new software updates to work. More and more, news outlets release that the aircraft has not only problems with the MCAS system, but with other autopilot functions as well. This could be a reason why the re-certification process takes so long. Initially, American airlines expected to fly the MAX again in August.

Just recently, Flyadeal decided to cancel its existing order for 737 MAX aircraft. The Saudi Arabian carrier announced to take over up to 50 Airbus 320neo instead. Moreover, AZAL confirmed weeks ago, that it has cancelled its 737 MAX order as well.

American Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world. The carrier currently operates a fleet of over 960 aircraft, including A319s, A320s, A321s, A330s, B737s, B757, B767, B777s, B787, ERJ190s and McDonnell Douglas MD-80s.

On Paris Air Show 2019, American announced to become a large customer of the recently launched Airbus A321XLR aircraft. The modified A321 can fly extra long range and is most likely to replace the aging fleet of Boeing 757s and 767s. Furthermore, Airlines can use narrowbody capacitates on long-haul routes.