United Continental removed Boeing’s 737 Max from its schedule through Aug 3, adopting a similar time table to that of the 2 other US airlines that operate the grounded jetliner. The move will force 1,290 flight cancellations in July in addition to 1,120 flights scrubbed in June, United said Friday. The carrier had previously pulled the plane through July 3. “During this period, we’ll continue to take extraordinary steps to protect our customers’ travel plans,” United said. There isn’t any set timeline to get the Max flying again, the FAA said late Thursday after meeting in Texas with counterparts from around the world. Southwest Airlines, the largest Max operator with 34 of the single-aisle planes, has removed the jet from its schedule through Aug 5. The comparable date for American Airlines is Aug 19. <br/>
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United Continental said it is prepared to lend money to Avianca Holdings, part of a deal that would side-line the Colombian air carrier’s biggest shareholder and could help solidify the US carrier’s presence in a fast-growing region for air travel. United’s commitment to Avianca under a just-recast board of directors—after the carrier’s biggest investor defaulted on a US$456m loan from United itself—sent the Colombian carrier’s American depository-receipt shares soaring more than 30%. “We will see better benefits for our customers and for our company if Avianca is a reliable, successful partner,” United said. United added it would be willing to loan Avianca up to US$150m. Avianca’s shareholders Friday retooled the board and replaced Efromovich as chairman with Kingsland owner Roberto Kriete. <br/>
Brazil’s civil aviation authority ANAC has suspended the operations of Avianca Brazil, dealing what could be the final blow to the airline which has operated under bankruptcy protection since Dec 2018. ANAC says that it has decided “to suspend all operations of Avianca Brazil as a precautionary measure”. It adds that all flights will remain halted until the carrier proves its ability to ensure safe operations, saying that the decision was made based on information provided by ANAC's operational flight safety department. This decision to ground Avianca Brazil throws into uncertainty the airline's plans to auction off assets in a court-supervised process to pay off debt, as a prolonged grounding might void the carrier's slots and route authorities. These rights are considered public assets awarded to airlines temporarily, conditioned on utilisation. <br/>