United Airlines trims growth plan for 2019
Posted April 17, 2019 4:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DALLAS — The grounding of its Boeing 737 Max jets is causing United Airlines to trim growth plans for this year, and the carrier expects to discuss potential compensation with Boeing.
United claims to be managing the grounding relatively well by pressing spare jets into duty and delaying discretionary maintenance work on other planes.
That approach, however, comes with extra costs — sometimes it uses bigger and less fuel-efficient two-aisle jets to replace the missing single-aisle Max on domestic routes.
United has 14 Max planes in its fleet, and airline executives said Wednesday they don’t expect those jets back before July. They said some of the 16 additional Max jets they expected to get this year might be delayed.
The Boeing jetliner has been grounded around the world since mid-March after two deadly crashes.
David Koenig, The Associated Press
