Southwest Airlines Extends Boeing 737 MAX Return Date to February 8, 2020

On Thursday, Southwest Airlines announced that the Boeing 737 MAX has been removed from their schedule until February 8, 2020. This increases the return timeframe by just over a month, as they previously expected a January 5, 2020 return.

Following a move by Air Canada on Wednesday, Southwest Airlines has announced that they have extended the expected return of the Boing 737 MAX to their schedule until February 8th, 2020. According to today’s press release, the company continues to monitor information from Boeing and the FAA on the aircraft’s software enhancement and additional training requirements. Southwest reiterated their confidence in the MAX, once it has been updated and recertified. In the announcement, Southwest stated,

“By proactively removing the MAX from scheduled service, we can reduce last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruptions to our Customers’ travel plans. The limited number of Customers who have already booked their travel and will be affected by our amended schedule will be notified of their re-accommodated travel according to our flexible accommodation procedures. The revision will proactively remove roughly 175 weekday flights from our schedule out of a total peak-day schedule of more than 4,000 daily flights. We offer apologies to our Customers impacted by this change, and we thank them for their continued patience.”

Source: Southwest Airlines