Boeing 737 Max’s grounding period has been extended from November 2nd to December 3rd 2019 by the American Airlines, bringing the grounding period to close to almost nine months.
This is as a result of airline regulators complaining of Boeing’s failure to provide technical details and answer specific questions about modifications in the operation of Max flight control computers.
With the extension of the grounding period, American Airlines is expected to experience more losses, owing to the fact that in July, while releasing its second-quarter 2019 results, it had estimated its 2019 pre-tax earnings to be affected to the tune of roughly $400 million due to the flight cancellations.
Boeing 737 Max received a worldwide grounding in March 2019 after two Max 8 aircraft crashed, killing the 346 people aboard. The accidents befell Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019.
In both accidents, the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) repeatedly pushed the airplane nose down in response to erroneous angle of attack (AoA) data.
Other airlines that have extended their Boeing 737 Max grounding period are the United Airlines (UAL) and the Southwest (LUV), which have cancelled 90 and 180 daily flights respectively. UAL’s grounding period extends to December 19th whereas Southwest’s extends to January 5th 2020.
