United Airlines follows US carriers in pulling Boeing Max until 2020

Bloomberg

United Airlines Holdings Inc gave up on carrying passengers on Boeing Co’s 737 Max this year, removing the grounded jet from its schedule until January 6.
The carrier, which had previously pulled the aircraft until Decmber 19, is cancelling more than 8,000 flights from October through early January as its 14 Max aircraft remain banned from flying. Boeing’s best-selling plane was grounded worldwide in March after crashes at Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air killed 346 people.
United is joining the two other US operators of the model, Southwest Airlines Co and American Airlines Group Inc, in taking the Max out of its flight schedule until January.
Boeing has targeted this quarter for the narrow-body plane’s return, but regulators must first approve new
software and other changes meant to avoid a repeat of the malfunctions linked to the
accidents.
At the time of the grounding, United had expected to have 30 Max jets in its fleet by year-end. Once flights are allowed to resume, airlines will need weeks or even months
to train pilots and prepare stored aircraft for commercial service.
In July, Southwest and Air Canada removed the Max from their schedules until January. Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA said in September that it wasn’t counting on the plane’s return until next year.