Southwest Airlines announced on Thursday that it has extended its Boeing 737 MAX flight cancellations until February 8, 2020.
The low-cost carrier cited the fact that the timing of the grounded aircraft's return-to-service is still uncertain. Southwest had previously removed the 737 MAX from its schedule through January 5, 2020.
"By proactively removing the MAX from scheduled service, we can reduce last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruptions to our Customers' travel plans," Southwest said in a release Thursday. "The limited number of customers who have already booked their travel and will be affected by our amended schedule will be notified of their re-accommodated travel according to our flexible accommodation procedures."
The airline said the decision will proactively remove about 175 weekday flights from its schedule out of its total peak-day schedule of more than 4,000 daily flights.
"We offer our apologies to our customers impacted by this change, and we thank them for their continued patience," Southwest concluded.
American Airlines and United Airlines have also recently extended 737 MAX flight cancellations into January, but it remains to be seen whether they will follow Southwest's lead in grounding flights into February.
Earlier this month, Southwest pilots filed suit against Boeing over lost income stemming from the 737 MAX's grounding.
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