American Airlines has removed the Boeing 737 Max from its schedules through April, prompting the cancellation of thousands of flights. The carrier has pre-emptively cancelled roughly 90 flights a day through April 24, totalling at least 2,700 flights, as a result of the grounding, it said Sunday. American operates 24 737-8s and is scheduled to take delivery of another 16 aircraft this year. The US carrier's decision to only remove the 737 Max from schedules through April is more optimistic than other airlines. Air Canada, which also operates 24 737-8s, has removed the type from its schedules through July 1. American says it cannot forecast the "financial costs of this disruption", noting that the impact will reflect both the full duration of the grounding and any additional costs related to the reintroduction of the 737 Max. <br/>
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Qatar Airways threw its support behind Boeing Monday as the planemaker faces its biggest crisis in years after 2 deadly crashes of its flagship 737 MAX jet. “As far as I am concerned, I have full confidence in Boeing and their ability to resolve any technical issue,” Qatar Airways CE Akbar al-Baker said. Qatar Airways is a major Boeing customer. It has ordered 20 MAX jets and committed to buying a further 40. It has taken delivery of 5 of the aircraft. Baker has a reputation for heavily criticising aircraft manufacturers. It ordered the MAX jets after a dispute with Airbus over an order for their similar sized A320neo aircraft. The airline will delay the April delivery of a single MAX jet until the cause of the crash is known, Baker said. Qatar Airways will attend a Boeing briefing this week on software and training updates for the MAX, Baker said. <br/>
A British Airways flight bound for Düsseldorf mistakenly landed in Edinburgh Monday after the operator, WDL Aviation, mixed up the flight plans. The BA CityFlyer flight from London City airport landed in Edinburgh before the pilots realised the error, which stemmed from an incorrect flight plan being filed at WDL’s offices in Germany. The flight, which was being operated under a wet lease arrangement by the Cologne-based airline, was subsequently redirected to Düsseldorf. BA said it was working with WDL “to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed”. WDL noted there had been an “involuntary stopover” in Edinburgh and said it was working closely with the relevant authorities to investigate how the “obviously unfortunate mix-up of flight schedules” had come about. <br/>