Southwest Airlines on Tuesday removed from its schedule all
flights slated to be operated on Boeing's beleaguered 737 Max planes through
April 13, days after a similar move from American Airlines and one day after
Boeing announced it would "temporarily suspend" production of the
aircraft.
Boeing on Monday said in a statement that it has about 400
Max airplanes in storage, the delivery of which it would "prioritize"
over further production. The company gave no indication of when production
might resume.
"This decision is driven by a number of factors,
including the extension of certification into 2020, the uncertainty about the
timing and conditions of return to service and global training approvals, and
the importance of ensuring that we can prioritize the delivery of stored
aircraft," the company said.
Regulatory bodies throughout the world, including the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration, grounded the Max in March 2019 following the deadly
crashes of Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air flights using the aircraft type.
Southwest "is proactively removing the Max from its
flight schedule through April 13, 2020," the carrier announced, as it
"monitors information from Boeing and the FAA on the impending 737 Max
software enhancements and training requirements." Southwest previously had
canceled
all such flights through March 6.
American Airlines last week canceled all Max flights through
April 6, 2020. The carrier previously had canceled such flights through March
4.