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Last month, I wrote about the onsite Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulator that was being added to review United’s maintenance procedures. This was in response to multiple, unrelated mechanical issues that caused one aircraft to lose a maintenance panel while in flight, another to divert in Sydney with its main landing gears open, hydraulic failure that plagued a Mexico City-bound flight, another issue that caused a plane landing in Houston to roll into the grass, and a trio of other incidents including a tire falling off upon takeoff at SFO. Now, United has pushed off two new routes and is seemingly admitting that it is not allowed to commence new routes while the FAA probe is ongoing.
Reuters is reporting that the FAA is initiating a formal evaluation of the airline to ensure that it “is complying with safety regulations; identifying hazards and mitigating risk; and effectively managing safety. Certification activities in process may be allowed to continue, but future projects may be delayed based on findings from oversight.”
United’s Vice President of Corporate Safety, Sasha Johnson, sent an internal memo to employees that said that the FAA had made United “pause a variety of certification activities for a period of time.” The memo was issued weeks ago and at the time the certification activities to be paused were not detailed.
While the FAA investigation is underway, United cannot add new cities to its route network. It can change frequencies to cities where it already has a presence. As a result of the FAA activity, United postponed its investor day that was scheduled for May 1st. This event was shifted to the fall and United will hopefully be starting some of its proposed routes then.
Anthony’s Take: After multiple random issues that caused multiple diversions and had United’s name splashed across the news it was time for the FAA to see what was going on. This will hopefully address any issues and get United back on track. As I’ve said repeatedly, air travel is safe and I have no issues flying United (other than with its catering.)
(Image Credits: United Airlines.)
(H/T: Paddle Your Own Kanoo.)
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