United Airlines has extended flight cancellations related to the global grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets by another month. The airline had already pulled flights on the 737 Max from its schedule through early Aug 3 but pushed that date back to Sept 3. That will mean cancelling roughly 1,900 flights in August, United said Wednesday. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines have also pulled flights on the 737 Max from their schedules through early September. The longer the 737 Max has remained out of service, the more flights United has had to cancel: about 60 a day in August, up from 40 to 45 in July and 35 to 40 in June. United operated about 50 flights a day on the aircraft before regulators halted flights, but expected that to grow to 110 flights a day by the end of the year as Boeing delivered new 737 Max aircraft. <br/>
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EVA Air’s cabin crew strike has entered its seventh day, becoming the longest strike in Taiwan’s aviation history. The airline said losses have reached US$26m and it is expected to lose up to $34.3m in the coming days. The airline has stopped taking reservations until June 29. Cancellations have reached into the first week of July with around 390 more flights canceled, reaching 1,016 in total. In all, about 210,000 passengers are affected as the carrier scrambles to reassign affected customers to other airlines. While both the airline and the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union (TFAU) are at an impasse over the resolution of the crew’s demands, EVA Air has accused the TFAU for withholding the identity passes and documents of about 100 cabin crew who wish to return to their posts. <br/>
TAP Air Portugal, which is on an expansion drive, will eventually become a customer of the newly launched Airbus A321XLR, co-owner David Neeleman says. The extra-long range version of the Airbus family of narrowbodies was launched at the Paris Air Show June 17 and by the end of the week had accumulated 260 orders, commitments and order conversions. TAP has two A321LRs with 12 more ordered and Neeleman said some might be converted to the XLR. He said the XLR would be a good aircraft for routes such as Lisbon-Chicago and could reach as far as Sao Paulo, but the earliest it would be available is 2023. TAP has launched 3 US nonstop city destinations from Lisbon this summer, with the 5X-weekly Washington service as well as 5X-weekly services to San Francisco International and to Chicago O’Hare. <br/>