Air Canada announced that it is no longer planning to schedule MAX flights for the rest of the year. The airline assumed that the grounding order would be lifted latter this year, but has since confirmed that it is now looking at January 8, 2020 at the earliest to resume operations with the aircraft. Southwest Airlines announced a similar decision earlier this week.
“In our planning, we will be removing the Boeing 737 MAX from our schedule until at least January 2020…” said Calin Rovinescu, president and CEO of Air Canada. “At present, we have no visibility on reliable timing for the return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX as we wait regulatory approvals.”
If the MAX series returns to service earlier than expected, Rovinescu said the airline “would look for opportunities to have some enter the fleet either replacement flying or as back-ups”, something that is currently being done with other types within Air Canada’s fleet to cover the MAX shortfall.
