Air Canada has been hurt more from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max than other operators because the aircraft made up a larger portion of its total capacity, the carrier’s finance chief said Wednesday. The grounding imposed a severe strain on the airline’s schedule, with Air Canada able to “backfill” only about half of the lost Max capacity, CFO Michael Rousseau said. Unlike most of Boeing’s Max customers, Air Canada has no other 737s in its fleet, leaving its 737 pilots mostly idle this year beyond training, the CFO said. The company won’t resume hiring pilots for the Max until the plane is cleared to resume service, he said. “We have a couple hundred pilots sitting around not doing a lot,” Rousseau said. Air Canada had two dozen 737 Max aircraft when regulators grounded the plane in March following two fatal crashes. The airline had planned to receive 12 additional Max aircraft this summer. It plans to acquire a total of 50 Max, which will replace older Airbus SE A320s.<br/>
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United passengers fearful of boarding a Boeing 737 Max will be able to rebook flights for free once United starts flying the planes again. "If you get to the gate and it's not an airplane you want to fly on for whatever reason, if it's a Max, we'll put you on another flight," said Andrew Nocella, the airline's CCO Wednesday. Nocella said it's probably too soon to tell what passenger reaction will be once the 737 Max returns to service. The Boeing jet has been grounded since March, following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. "We need to get through the recertification process, return the aircraft to service and see how things go," he said. "If somebody is uncomfortable getting on the aircraft... we want to make sure we can put them on a different aircraft." A United (UAL) spokesman confirmed the rebooking would be done without the passengers being required to pay any change fee.<br/>Nocella said that United's website will notify passengers booking a flight what equipment it expects to use. Those plans sometimes change at the last moment, but postings at the gate will provide passengers with the most current information about what aircraft will be used on their flights.<br/>American Airline, which also has the grounded jets in its fleet, said it has yet to set a policy for dealing with customers who don't want to fly the 737 Max.<br/>
United and its pilots are now negotiating tricky contract terms specifying the number of regional aircraft flying under the United Express banner. But the discussions about so-called "scope" enwrap much more than regional flying. They link to United's widebody fleet and union concerns about how airline joint ventures and ownership stakes affect US pilot jobs. United is the first of the three large US airlines to begin the latest round of contract talks, meaning its deal could set a standard for American Airlines' and Delta Air Lines' next contracts. Delta's pilot contract becomes amendable in December and American's becomes amendable in 2020. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) intends "over the next few weeks" to negotiate with United items related to pilots' career security and "scope", the union says in a 2 September note to members. "Scope" is industry-speak for contract provisions defining the size of United's regional fleet. Major US airlines, including United, have sought what is commonly called "scope relief", meaning contract changes allowing them to acquire more regional aircraft, particularly larger jets like 76-seat Embraer 175s. But unions, wary of ceding more flying to regional outfits that pay lesser wages, have pushed back and advocated for more mainline expansion. United's pilot contract limits its Express operation to 255 aircraft in the 70- and 76-seat category. It caps the number of 50-seaters at no more than 90% of United's narrowbody jets. That equates to about 500 50-seat aircraft.<br/>