American Airlines has once again extended cancelations of Boeing 737 Max flights.
The flights will remain off the schedule until at least January 15, 2020, marking a lack of confidence with Boeing’s assertion the jet will be cleared to fly before the year-end.
Regulators are still assessing software changes to the grounded plane with definite timetable for the when the jet will be cleared.
American said it canceled nearly 10,000 flights in the third quarter and the groundings had impacted third-quarter pre-tax profit by $140 million.
The FAA remained tight-lipped over an end to the Max crisis.
It ‘will lift the aircraft’s prohibition order when it is deemed safe to do so,’ the agency said.
American said it hopes to slowly phase in operations of about 20 Max flights a day to start with from mid-January if clearance to fly again is given by then.
The airline currently has 24 Max jets sitting idle with dozens more on order.
