U.S. Airlines Hold Off Grounding Boeing’s Latest Jet Despite New Calls for Caution

Even as Aeromexico grounded its Boeing 737-8 Max fleet on Monday night, becoming the first North American operator to stop flying the jet, U.S. airlines remained committed to it. They say they're confident in the technologically advanced airplane, even amid growing concerns and new calls for caution. It is not clear what, if any, financial impact grounding the new Boeing jets might have on the bottom line for airlines, particularly since the 737-8 Max jets represent a relatively small percentage of their total fleets. No U.S. airlines yet have said publicly they are cancelling orders for the new jet. American Airlines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines said late Monday they were closely watching as investigators try to determine what happened to Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which crashed Sunday after departing Addis Ababa. American and Southwest fly the same model, while United operates a larger version, called the Max 9. The situation is unusual. While it's not unprecedented for safety regulators or airlines to ground an airplane — the FAA told airlines not to fly the Boeing 787 in early 2013 because of concerns about lithium-ion batteries catching fire — they usually wait until they have facts about a specific problem. In this case, however, some safety regulato