American Airlines, United and Southwest have once again pushed back the planned return of the B737 Max to their schedules, as uncertainty remains over the aircraft’s re-certification.

All Boeing Max aircraft have been grounded worldwide since mid-March of last year, following two fatal crashes involving the jets, and in December Boeing confirmed it would temporarily halt production of the B737 Max in January, after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said its review of the jets would continue into 2020.

American Airlines, United and Southwest had all previously removed the B737 max from their schedules up until June 2020, but have now extended this further. In a statement published on February 14, AA said:

“American Airlines remains in continuous contact with the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation and Boeing. Based on the latest guidance, the airline anticipates that the resumption of scheduled commercial service on American’s fleet of Boeing 737 Max aircraft will occur August 18, 2020.”

Meanwhile United has extended its B737 Max cancellations until September 4, and Southwest until August 10.

“By proactively removing the Max from scheduled service, we can reduce last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruptions to our Customers’ travel plans,” said Southwest.

“The limited number of Customers who have already booked their travel and will be affected by our amended schedule will be notified of their re-accommodated travel according to our flexible accommodation procedures. The revision will proactively remove roughly 371 weekday flights from our schedule out of our total peak-day schedule of more than 4,000 daily flights.”

aa.com, united.com, southwest.com