Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are the first U.S.-based airlines to do so and join several international carriers that have stopped flying to China as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant will become the “official airline” of the team as part of a multi-year deal.
The FAA asserts that AirXL jets are operating under the wrong section of FAA regulations, but it hasn’t brought an enforcement action.
That timetable—the latest of several delays in the plane’s approval process—will create more headaches for airlines by pushing the Max’s return further into the peak summer travel season or possibly beyond it.
The flights are set to depart Indianapolis twice daily Sunday though Friday and once on Saturdays starting May 7. Tickets will begin going on sale this weekend.
Dave Calhoun, who officially took charge Monday, pushed to release humiliating internal messages last week even though they may darken public perception for years to come.
There are only 34 MAX flight simulators worldwide—Boeing owns eight of them, and more are being made. But U.S. airlines alone have thousands of 737 pilots — Southwest has nearly 10,000, and American and United have more than 4,000 each.
At least some of the messages were written by the same Boeing pilot whose 2016 messages were released in October and were the subject of sharp questioning by lawmakers, according to a person familiar with their contents who wasn’t authorized to discuss them.
By midmorning, nearly 50 flights had been canceled at O’Hare, and more than 70 flights canceled at Midway, split evenly between arrivals and departures, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
The Boeing board said a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company as it works to repair relationships with regulators and stakeholders.
The message to Boeing Co. from the Federal Aviation Administration was clear: The grounded 737 Max won’t get approval to fly again anytime soon. So the company had little choice but to idle the giant factory where the plane is made.
The trade group Airlines for America said Tuesday that 47.5 million people are expected to fly over an 18-day period from Dec. 19 through Jan. 5.
The flights from Indianapolis International Airport to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport begin May 21. They will feature local departure times of 8 a.m. and local arrival times of 6:30 a.m.
United Airlines said Friday that without the planes, it will cancel 56 flights a day in January, February and early March.
Southwest Airlines says it will speed up inspections of dozens of used planes it bought from foreign airlines after federal regulators threatened to ground the jets because they might not meet all safety standards.
Without the planes, Southwest says it will cancel about 175 flights each weekday.
Frontier Airlines plans to add seasonal twice-weekly flights between Indianapolis and Cancun, Mexico, the airline announced Tuesday.
Officials for Indianapolis-based Republic said the registered program will be the only one of its kind in Indiana and one of only eight in the United States.
With the addition of the new year-round routes, Allegiant will offer service from Indianapolis to 15 cities in the South and Southwest.
The plane is expected to start flying again in January 2020 “under the latest scenario,” the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified sources within the Federal Aviation Administration and pilot-union leaders.
