Air Canada confirmed on Wednesday that it had removed the Boeing 737 Max from its flying schedule until St Valentines Day, February 14th next year. The carrier said the decision is based on operational considerations, as it launches a new reservation system beginning next month.
Boeing 737 Max operators in the US have started to reenter the grounded aircraft in their schedules for January next year, despite no firm date for regulatory approval to be granted by. Air Canada's Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Lucie Guillemette said "Today we are extending to February 14, 2020, the removal of the Boeing 737 Max from our operating schedule. We are taking this prudent step as a result of the ongoing regulatory uncertainty about the timing of the aircraft returning to service."
The extension of the removal of the type from scheduled operations, will Guillemette said, "give us scheduling predictability through the implementation of the first phase of our new reservation system and the required stability as we prepare the second phase of the system roll-out, introducing it into the airport environment,"
"As a result of these and other measures we are taking, including leasing two additional wide-body aircraft through at least the March Break, customers can continue to book with full confidence on Air Canada."
In compliance with a safety notice closing Canadian airspace issued by Transport Canada on March 13, 2019, Air Canada grounded its fleet of 24 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Final decisions on returning the 737 MAX to service will be based on Air Canada's safety assessment following the lifting of government safety notices and approval by international regulatory authorities.
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