Pilots at Southwest Airlines certified to fly the Boeing 737 Max are losing a combined $8.5 million a month due to its grounding.
The Southwest Airline Pilots Association says it also has to pay legal fees to meet records requests from the Justice Department’s investigation.
It is ‘seeking compensation and reimbursement from Boeing for every dollar legally available to be challenged, when the Max issues are resolved.’
It did not officially say how much pilots are losing in lost pay but a union official familiar with the matter put the cost at $8.5 million per month since the worldwide grounding of the Max jet.
Southwest has 34 Max jets in its fleet, more than any other US airline.
Southwest again extended cancelations of Max flights until at least Labor Day, and that may have to be extended again.
Boeing or the FAA will not give a target date for its return to service, although both have recently said they expect it to be before the end of the year.
"We’ll get it back in the air when it’s safe. That is the most important thing," Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said at this week’s Paris Air Show.
