The world’s largest airline plans to cancel roughly 90 flights a day next month after being forced to ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.
“In an effort to provide more certainty and avoid last minute flight disruptions, American has extended cancellations through April 24,” the airline said in an official statement posted to their online newsroom. “This will result in the cancellation of approximately 90 flights each day based on our April schedule. By proactively canceling these flights, we are able to provide better service to our customers with availability and rebooking options.”
“American’s reservations team will contact affected customers directly by email or telephone,” the statement said. The airline is “working to limit the impact to the smallest number of customers,” though they admit “these cancellations and changes may affect” them.
According to CNN, Southwest Airlines is dealing with the same problem, “trying to rework the schedule to affect the fewest possible number of customers.”
All of this in the wake of a tragic Lion Air crash responsible for the loss of 157 passengers, due to faulty software in the aforementioned jets. Federal investigators continue to explore not only the cause of the crash, but the approval processes which allowed the aircraft to carry those passengers to their deaths.
“Boeing is an incredible company, they are working very, very hard right now and hopefully they’ll very quickly come up with the answer but until they do the planes are grounded,” Trump said on March 13. “The United States has the greatest record in the world of aviation and we want to keep it that way. So I didn’t want to take any chances. I felt it was important both psychologically and a lot of other ways.”
Travelers are being urged to check their flights to ensure that no cancellations, delays, or other alterations may affect their trips.