United Airlines CEO tries to reassure customers after string of flight problems

United Airlines is in damage control as it attempts to reassure its customers that its product is safe following a series of incidents on its Boeing jets this year.

In a statement sent to customers on Monday (March 18), the airline said that safety is “at the centre of everything that we do.”

“While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a message to customers on Monday (March 18).

On Friday last week, a United Boeing 737-800 landed in Medford, Oregon, with a panel missing from the underside of its fuselage (the aircraft’s main body).

It’s just one of several scary examples of flights going wrong at United.

Earlier this month, the airline suffered four mishaps that all involved Boeing-manufactured jets.

The engine of a United Boeing 737-900ER spewed flames after takeoff from Houston, a United Boeing 777 lost its wheel during takeoff from San Francisco, a United Boeing 737 Max skid off a runway in Houston, and a United Boeing 777 trailed hydraulic fluid while departing from Sydney.

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“Our team is reviewing the details of each case to understand what happened and using those insights to inform our safety training and procedures across all employee groups,” Kirby said in his statement.

On top of this, United was one of a handful of major U.S. airlines that grounded its MAX 9 aircraft after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated jet shortly after takeoff on January 5.

Those aircraft were allowed to return to the skies in late January and nearly all are flying again.

United leans heavily on Boeing. As of last year, 81 per cent of the aircraft that United uses for its mainline operations came from the aircraft manufacture.

Boeing’s problems have also disrupted United’s operations, which has frozen its hiring of new pilots because the delivery of new planes will be delayed.

t’s part of a string of issues that have plagued Boeing’s safety reputation. Earlier this month, Boeing told airlines operating 787 Dreamliners to check their flight deck switches after a mid-air dive by a LATAM Airlines 787 plane left more than 50 people injured.

Airbus not happy 

Meanwhile, Boeing’s competitor Airbus isn’t taking pleasure in seeing its rival get dragged through endless negative headlines.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, recently speaking at the "Europe 2024" conference in Berlin recently, said the situation damages the image of the entire aerospace industry.

"I am not happy with the problems of my competitor. They are not good for the industry a whole," Faury said, as reported by Reuters.

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