United says it does not expect to fly 737 Max this summer

United Airlines is not planning for the Boeing 737 Max’s return to service this summer, making it the first airline to announce it will operate without the aircraft during a second peak travel season. The FAA has not given a timeline for the aircraft’s re-certification, and Boeing said earlier this week it expects it will be “mid-2020” before the Max can realistically return to service. “We continue to assume there will be a safe return of the Max and we’re actually encouraged at what we hope is a more realistic timeline or target,” president Scott Kirby said Wednesday. “We will announce our own pushback of service to give us time to get the airplane up and running and time for classroom training and simulator training for our pilots.” Previously, United had removed the aircraft from its schedules through June 4. <br/>