Southwest Pushes Back Boeing 737 MAX Re-Entry Date Beyond Oct. 1

Southwest Airlines is prepping for an even-longer grounding of its fleet of troubled 737 MAX jets, according to the airline's CEO.
By M. Corey Goldman ,

Southwest Airlines (LUV) - Get Report is prepping for an even-longer grounding of its fleet of troubled 737 MAX jets, the company's CEO said.

Boeing (BA) - Get Reportsaid last week it would take until at least September to solve 737 MAX software issues -- later than airlines had been expecting -- after U.S. aviation regulators uncovered additional software problems during simulator sessions.

"I'm sure this will cause us to have to take the MAX out of the schedule beyond Oct. 1," Kelly said in an internal update, adding that the company would also see "what other modifications we might need to make our plans for this year because it's obviously extending well beyond what I had hoped."

The comments followed a recently released company statement in which Southwest said it was was proactively extending the removal of the MAX from its scheduled service to Oct. 1 from just after Labor Day to "reduce last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruptions to our customers' travel plans.

The revision will proactively remove roughly 150 daily flights from Southwest's schedule out of its total peak-day schedule of more than 4,000 daily flights, the company said.

Shares of Southwest were up 1.22% at $52.16 in early trading on Tuesday. Shares of Boeing were down 0.37% at $355.

Loading ...