UNITED AIRLINES EXTENDS 737 MAX CANCELLATIONS THROUGH AUGUST

United Airlines is canceling more than 2,400 flights during the busy summer travel season as Boeing’s 737 Max jets remain grounded.

Chicago-based United had already pulled flights on the 737 Max from its schedule through early July, but it is now extending cancellations through Aug. 3, the airline said Friday. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines had already cancelled flights through August.

The 737 Max jets have been grounded by aviation authorities around the world since March, after the second in a pair of deadly crashes involving the aircraft in less than five months. The crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed a total of 346 people.

Boeing said it has completed a software fix for a flight control system linked to both crashes. Aviation safety officials met Thursday to discuss Boeing’s changes and plans for reviewing their safety before clearing the grounded jets to fly again. But it’s not clear how long that process will take.

In the meantime, United said it expects to cancel 35 to 40 flights a day in June and 40 to 45 flights per day in July. United said it would automatically book customers affected by the cancellations on another flight or contact them to try to offer other options if it wasn’t able to find them a seat.

United said it will continue to monitor the regulatory process and “won’t put our customers and employees on that plane until regulators make their own independent assessment that it is safe to do so.”