SilkAir drops 4 flights in second wave of cancellations amid Boeing 737 MAX 8 grounding

[beyond]

SilkAir's new aircraft, the Boeing 737 Max 8, sits on the tarmac at Changi Airport in Singapore, Oct 4, 2017. (File photo: REUTERS/Edgar Su)

 

SINGAPORE: Details of four cancelled SilkAir flights between Singapore and Yangon on Mar 24 were announced by Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Monday (Mar 18).

Flights MI518, MI519, MI520 and MI521 were cancelled due to the redeployment of aircraft in SilkAir's fleet following the grounding of all six of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets on Mar 12, the carrier said in a release.

SIA will mount two supplementary flights between Singapore and Yangon — SQ995 and SQ996 — on the same date, it added. They will be operated using Boeing 777-200ER aircraft.

SIA said on its website that it would "progressively update” the public on information related to its flight changes, and that it is also “in close communication with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) to manage the effects of flight disruptions".

SINGAPORE TO KUALA LUMPUR

This is the second wave of SilkAir flight cancellations after the carrier announced on Mar 12 it had dropped six flights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur from Mar 18 to Mar 30, with the exception of Mar 19 and Mar 26.

The cancellation included flights MI323, MI324, MI325, MI326, MI327 and MI328.

SIA said it would mount two supplementary flights between the two cities — SQ108 and SQ109 — in the same period, excluding Mar 19 and Mar 26.

Flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed that SIA had deployed the Boeing 787-10 to operate SQ108 and SQ109.

The announcement came after CAAS ordered the temporary suspension of all Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft into and out of the country following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane on Mar 10 which killed all 157 crew and passengers on board. The crash involved a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet.

It was the second time in less than six months that a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet has crashed. In October last year, an Indonesian Lion Air flight crashed after take off, killing 189 people onboard.

On Mar 11, Boeing said it was developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX 8, including updates to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight control law, pilot displays, operation manuals and crew training.

“Boeing has been working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on development, planning and certification of the software enhancement, and it will be deployed across the 737 MAX fleet in the coming weeks," said the airframer.

[ODACHEK]

Moi see the word "Augmentation" moi scared.