Fallout from the global ban on Boeing's 737 Max got heavier as American Airlines warned that profit this year would take a $400 million hit, while Southwest Airlines cut service at a major airport and scratched the jet from its schedule into next year.
Southwest Airlines Co. said Thursday that caution dictated removing the plane from its flight plan through Jan. 5, becoming the first U.S. carrier to drop the grounded aircraft for the rest of this year. Southwest also will stop flights at Newark Liberty International Airport outside New York, citing a need to optimize aircraft use after the Max crimped the carriers's 2019 growth plan.
Meanwhile, American Airlines Group Inc. forecast that hangaring the Max would levy a $400 million drag to 2019 pretax earnings. That includes last quarter's recorded hit of $175 million. For now, the carrier has left the jet off its schedule through Nov. 2.