American Airlines extends Boeing plane flight cancellations

WASHINGTON (AP) — American Airlines said Sunday that it will keep the Boeing 737 Max plane off its schedule until Nov. 3, which is two months longer than it had planned.

In a statement, American said the action will result in the cancellation of about 115 flights per day. It said it "remains confident" that the Boeing plane will be recertified this year. But some airline executives are growing doubtful about that timetable.

United Airlines announced Friday it was extending its cancellations until Nov. 3, a month longer than it had planned.

United has 14 Max jets while American has 24 of them. Southwest Airlines, which has 34 Max jets – more than any other carrier – is canceling about 150 flights per day.

The plane was grounded in March after two deadly crashes.

The announcement Sunday marked the fifth time American Airlines has pushed back the expected time the Max would resume flying.

"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 its previous announcement of further flight cancellations last month, American Airlines had said it had expected the recertification to be accomplished "soon."

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines, said, "I expect it's going to take longer than people expect" before the Max is certified to fly again. He said he could not venture a guess as to when that might occur.