American Airlines Group Inc. plans to make Boeing Co. 737 Max passenger flights at the end of this year for the first time since the aircraft's grounding in March 2019.
A spokeswoman for American said Monday that the airline plans to operate a single daily Max flight from Dec. 29 through Jan. 4 between Miami and New York's LaGuardia Airport. American will fly the Max, contingent on that approval, daily on one Miami-LaGuardia-Miami routing.
The airline will "take a phased approach" to returning the Max to service once it's approved to fly, including whether to extend the Miami-New York flight beyond Jan. 4.
"We remain in contact with the [Federal Aviation Administration] and Boeing on the certification process, and we'll continue to update our plans based on when the aircraft is certified," spokeswoman Sarah Jantz said in a statement.
The flights can be booked starting Saturday, and customers will be made aware that they will be flying on a Max, the airline said.
The 737 Max, grounded worldwide after two crashes killed 346 people, is moving closer to resuming commercial flights after European regulators said last week that changes have made the plane safe enough to operate there before year-end. The FAA is further along in its review, but hasn't commented on when the Max might operate in the U.S.
American gained less than 1% to close at $12.56 Monday in New York. The stock dropped 57% this year through Friday, while a Standard & Poor's index of major U.S. airlines declined 45%. Boeing fell less than 1% Monday to $167.17.
The first 737 Max crash occurred in October 2018 in Indonesia, and another crashed less than five months later in Ethiopia. In both cases, an automated anti-stall system new to the plane pushed the nose down, and pilots were unable to regain control. All Max jets were grounded worldwide in March 2019.
Boeing has redesigned software and computers on the plane to make the anti-stall system less powerful. The Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing those changes and conducting test flights. The agency hasn't given a timetable for making a decision on whether to let the plane fly again.
Information for this article was contributed by Mary Schlangenstein of Bloomberg News and by staff members of The Associated Press.