Southwest has 34 of the jets—the most of any U.S. carrier—but is removing Max 8 flights from its schedule through Jan. 5, becoming the first carrier to drop the grounded aircraft through the rest of this year. The company does not expect the Federal Aviation Administration to allow the aircraft to return to service until later this year and says it will need up to a couple months beyond that point to resume flights with the Max 8.

With the Max 8 grounded, Southwest said its available seat miles for the year, a measure of its passenger capacity, may decrease up to 2% from last year, a number it hoped at the start of the year to grow 5%.

CEO Gary Kelly had expressed frustrations because of the beleaguered Max 8, telling employees this week that the longer the grounding goes on, the harder it becomes to manage. The flying ban reduced Southwest’s operating income by about $175 million in the second quarter.

Southwest’s Newark employees will have the opportunity to move to LaGuardia or another location, according to the announcement. The airline said it is also offering options customers to change affected flight plans.

With Bloomberg