American Airlines Group said Sunday it is extending cancellations of about 115 daily flights into September due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.<br/>The largest US airline had previously said it was cancelling flights Aug. 19 after the Boeing plane was grounded worldwide in March following two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. American Airlines said Sunday it is extending those cancellations through Sept. 3. Boeing has yet to complete a certification test flight and formally submit its software upgrade and training changes to the FAA for approval. Boeing said Sunday it is continuing “to work with global regulators to provide them the information they need to certify the MAX update and related training and education material and safely return the fleet to service.” The world’s largest airplane manufacturer said it is “partnering with our airline customers to maintain their planes in storage and will provide ‘entry into service’ type support once they are cleared to resume commercial operation.” The FAA declined to comment on Sunday.<br/>
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With the aerospace industry’s biggest annual trade expo approaching, Boeing is hearing echoes of a sales debacle eight years ago that helped give rise to the 737 Max -- the airliner currently grounded after two deadly crashes. At the 2011 Paris Air Show, Airbus was successfully coaxing American Airlines to make its first jet purchase from the European planemaker in decades. Blindsided, Boeing shelved planning for a new narrow-body plane in favor of a quicker upgrade that became the Max. Fast forward to 2019, and Airbus is again in talks with American -- this time for a longer-range version of its largest-single-aisle jet, a plane that is likely to be unveiled at this year’s Paris exhibition. With the proposed A321XLR, Airbus is seeking to steal customers from a distracted Boeing after executives postponed a decision on an all-new model for middle-distance routes while they deal with the Max crisis. American is taking a hard look at the XLR, whose redesigned center fuel tank would give it the range to cruise easily between central Europe and the U.S. heartland, people familiar with the matter said. While American and Airbus don’t have plans to announce an agreement this month in Paris, aircraft deals can sometimes come together quickly, one of the people said. Airbus and American declined to comment.<br/>
Qatar Airways plans to seek compensation from Boeing over the grounding of three 737 MAX aircraft by Italian airline Air Italy, where the Qatari company is a major shareholder, group CE Akbar al-Baker said. Boeing MAX jets have been grounded worldwide and airlines are cancelling multimillion contracts following crashes in October and March that killed nearly 350 people. “At Qatar Airways we do not operate any MAX airplanes – it affected our investment into Air Italy. Air Italy has three MAX operated in its fleet and they were grounded so it affected us – we had to take extra routing from outside,” al-Baker said. In 2017, Qatar purchased 49% of Air Italy, Italy’s second largest carrier behind Alitalia, which, in turn, is partly owned by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways. “Boeing has to compensate us for grounding,” al-Baker said, but did not elaborate on the potential cost. In Russia, Qatar Airways is in talks to buy a 20% stake in Vnukovo airport, Moscow’s third largest by passenger traffic. Al-Baker said Qatar Airways was looking to close the deal “sometime before the end of the year.”<br/>
Japan Airlines will mainly rely on increased aircraft utilization to increase capacity and meet an expected demand surge in 2020, although its planned long-haul LCC startup will also help. While exact targets are yet to be confirmed, JAL could potentially increase its international capacity by 10% in its 2020 fiscal year, airline president Yuji Akasaka said. This would be an acceleration from the 2.5% growth targeted for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends in March 2020. JAL’s capacity growth will be prompted by government estimates that there could be 40m international visitors to Japan in 2020, compared to 30m in 2018. Japan is hosting the Olympics next year and more landing slots are set to be granted at Tokyo Haneda Airport. Industry observers expect slot allocations for Japanese carriers to be announced during the September quarter. JAL is “very well positioned” to prepare for the demand increase next year, Akasaka said. The airline will not be increasing its fleet dramatically, and has enough aircraft in its current plan to cope with a 10% capacity rise. It has plenty of scope to raise utilization on the existing fleet, Akasaka said. Changing to a higher-density configuration on some aircraft types will also boost capacity.<br/>