American Airlines extends MAX 737 cancellations

American Airlines will cancel flights using the grounded Boeing 737 MAX jet through Sept 3, causing the elimination of 115 flights per day during the summer travel season.

In April, the airline extended cancellations of flights reliant on MAX jets through Aug 19 after crashes of two non-US carriers using the airliner.

"American Airlines remains confident that the impending software updates to the Boeing 737 MAX, along with the new training elements Boeing is developing in coordination with our union partners, will lead to the recertification of the aircraft soon," the carrier said in a statement. "By extending the cancellations, our customers and team members can more reliably plan their upcoming travel."

American Airlines said it will substitute other planes for MAX jets when possible and offer full refunds to passengers who are unable to make other travel arrangements if their flight is cancelled.

Boeing MAX jets were grounded worldwide following crashes March 10 in Ethiopia and Oct 29, 2018, in Indonesia that killed a total of 346 passengers and crew.

American Airlines is the largest carrier in the US by number of planes in service, revenue, profit, and number of passengers carried. Delta Airlines is the largest US carrier by market capitalization. Twenty-four of American's fleet of 900 planes are Boeing 737 MAX jets.

United Airlines said it had no plans to extend cancellation of flights using MAX jets through the previously announced date of Aug 3. Southwest Airlines said it had not made any MAX-related schedule adjustments through Aug 5.

Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing's CEO, last week said he expects MAX jets to return to commercial service by the end of the year, but did not set a schedule.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said it has not established a schedule for Boeing to submit a software update for review. Boeing has not said when it will submit the new software to regulators.

American Airlines said about 45 days will be needed to train pilots on the new software after the FAA approves the update.