Southwest Airlines Pulls Boeing 737 Max Jets From Schedule Into November
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is joining other major carriers and is again pushing back the date it expects to be able to fly the grounded Boeing 737 Max jet, meaning more flight cancellations.
Southwest said Thursday that it was taking the plane out of its schedule through November 2, a month longer than before.
Without the plane, Southwest says it will drop about 180 flights a day from its schedule, up from 150.
Southwest is also delaying the addition of new pilots as a result of the Max grounding.
"When it's actually going to take flight again is anybody's guess as we continue to find more and more things," said Captain Dennis Tajer of the Allied Pilots Association.
The airline told pilots last week that it was postponing two classes for new pilot training and two for pilots upgrading to captain. The classes were to begin in September, October and December.
The Max was grounded after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people. It's not clear when it will be cleared to fly after Boeing makes fixes to flight-control software.
Southwest had 34 Max jets when the plane was grounded in March, and the airline expected to receive more as the year went on, but Boeing halted deliveries.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)