American Airlines extends grounding of all Boeing 737 Max flights until June

Airline cancels 90 daily flights until 5 June

American Airlines has extended a string of flight cancellations in June as the troubled Boeing 737 Max plane remains grounded.

The airline initially announced it would cancel around 90 flights a day until 24 April. However, on Sunday it said the cancellations would now last until at least 5 June.

The company acknowledged the prolonged cancellations would bring disruption for some travellers.

The Max jets have been grounded in the US and elsewhere since mid-March following two deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia.

Airlines that own the models have been scrambling other planes to fill some Max flights while cancelling others.

American Airlines Group Inc, the largest US airline by revenue, has 24 Max jets in its fleet.

The Dallas-based airline said it was awaiting information from US regulators and would contact customers affected by the cancellations with available re-bookings.

Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration last week said the company needed more time to finish changes in a flight-control system suspected of playing a role in the two crashes.

American Airlines said on Sunday by cancelling the flights in advance, they are able to provide better service to customers with availability and re-booking options and to avoid last-minute flight disruptions.

Reservations staff will contact affected customers directly by email or phone, the airline said.

The airline said in a statement: “We know these cancellations and changes may affect some of our customers, and we are working to limit the impact to the smallest number of customers.”

On Friday, Boeing said it would cut production of the Max jet, its best-selling plane, underscoring the mounting financial risk it faces the longer the airliner remains grounded.

The manufacturer plans to cut production of the aircraft from 52 to 42 planes per month so it can focus on fixing the flight control software that has been implicated in the two crashes.

Preliminary investigations into the deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia found that faulty sensor readings erroneously triggered an anti-stall system that pushed down the plane’s nose.

Pilots of each plane struggled in vain to regain control over the automated system.

In all, 346 people died in the crashes. Boeing faces a growing number of lawsuits filed by families of the victims.