Air Canada grounds Max 8s until July 1

MONTREAL Air Canada has decided to remove its grounded Boeing 737 Max 8 jets from service until at least July 1 in order to provide more certainty for passengers who wish to book flights in the coming months.

Canada’s largest airline announced Tuesday that it has taken several steps to adjust since the Max 8s were grounded last week by Transport Canada as part of an international response to the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane.

Among other things, Air Canada said it has substituted different aircraft in its fleet, chartered flights or leased aircraft from Air Transat, suspended some routes temporarily, and adjusted its rebooking policy for affected customers. Air Canada said its adjusted schedule through to April 30 will cover 98 per cent of its planned flights. It is also updating its May schedule to re-accommodate customers and optimize its fleet.

“The Boeing 737 Max accounted for six per cent of Air Canada’s total flying, but there is a domino effect from removing the 737s from our fleet that impacts the schedule and ultimately will impact some customers,” Air Canada executive vice-president Lucie Guillemette said in a statement. “To bring certainty to our schedule for our customers ... we are revising our schedule until July and we have taken several steps to continue delivering substantially all of our planned capacity through our global network.”

Air Canada said it will notify customers by email, smart phone app, website and travel agencies if their flight times or numbers change.