After three weeks of being grounded, the Boeing 737 Max 9 is returning to service.
12.01.2024 - 19:19 / thepointsguy.com
Mother Nature is making for a messy start to the long weekend.
Snow in the Midwest is fueling air travel headaches at Chicago's major airports and threatens to cause residual disruptions throughout the country.
With additional bad weather expected on the East Coast, flight delays and cancellations could continue to pile up Friday into Saturday.
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As of late morning Friday, airlines had canceled nearly 1,900 flights nationwide, according to data from FlightAware.
The weather-induced problems are only making matters worse as two major U.S. airlines continue to work around the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft in the wake of an emergency on an Alaska Airlines flight one week ago.
As of 11:15 a.m. EST Friday, there were hundreds of cancellations at both Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Midway Airport (MDW) — including 650 cancellations alone at O'Hare.
The Federal Aviation Administration put a ground stop in place for a period on Friday morning at O'Hare, halting takeoffs and landings amid the storm. Once operations resumed, the FAA estimated delays of at least two hours due to snow and ice.
Southwest Airlines has been the hardest-hit U.S. airline. The Dallas-based carrier has canceled at least 385 flights, and counting — about 9% of its operation. Hundreds more flights have encountered delays.
The bad weather will test Southwest's operation at its major Midway hub, where the carrier has bolstered its winter weather ground equipment in an effort to avoid the sort of meltdown that precipitated its December 2022 operational meltdown.
Southwest isn't alone, though.
Regional carrier Skywest, which operates flights under the umbrella of American, Delta, United and Alaska Airlines, had canceled nearly 330 flights by late morning Friday.
With high winds causing lengthy delays in parts of Texas and additional winter weather in parts of the country this weekend, the FAA cautioned it could be a messy few days for air travel.
Friday's weather-related disruptions are just the latest air travel-related hurdle this week.
Alaska and United Airlines have had to cancel hundreds of daily flights since each operates sizable fleets of 737 MAX 9 aircraft — planes that currently cannot fly as Boeing, the airlines and the FAA investigate whether other such jets might be at risk for the blowout that left an emergency exit-size opening on an Alaska flight last Friday.
With no end to the grounding in sight, Alaska and United's operations have taken a hit, with disruptions this week at key hubs like Alaska's home base at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and at United's busy hub at Newark Liberty International
After three weeks of being grounded, the Boeing 737 Max 9 is returning to service.
A major travel search engine is giving people the option of excluding flights using Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft from its results.
Southwest Airlines is removing the Boeing 737 Max 7 from its 2024 fleet plans due to certification delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has laid out a path for the beleaguered Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft to return to service as soon as Friday after a mid-air blowout grounded the planes.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it is halting any production expansion of the Boeing 737 Max, after a door plug suddenly fell off an Alaska Airlines jet.
It appears Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft will begin returning to the skies in the coming days after the planes were grounded in the wake of a harrowing incident on an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month in which a door plug explosively blew out of an aircraft during flight.
Based on its inspection of the first 40 of more than 170 jets, the Federal Aviation Administration appears ready to allow the Boeing 737 Max 9 back in the air.
The Boeing 737 MAX is again in the news following the sudden cabin decompression on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California.
Alaska Airlines has begun preliminary inspections on some of its Boeing 737-9 Max aircrafts this weekend, adding that up to 20 planes could undergo inspection, the company said on Saturday.
Alaska Airlines said it will extend its cancellation of Boeing 737 Max 9 flights through Tuesday, Jan. 16, for planes that have been grounded since last week’s mid-air cabin panel blowout.
Some Seattle fliers are switching their trips to Delta Air Lines as hometown carrier Alaska Airlines’ schedule takes a hit from the latest Boeing 737 Max grounding.
The Boeing 737 Max 9 grounding in response to the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 plug door incident on January 5, 2024, has caused many travelers to reconsider travel plans. Below are some of the latest developments and actions that air passengers can implement.