For the past several weeks, United Airlines has been under increased scrutiny from regulators, limiting the carrier’s ability to add new routes and aircraft. There’s now a positive update for United.
Continue reading: FAA Lifts United Airlines Restrictions On New Aircraft & Routes
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I know this is not unique to United, but the "juniority" problem concerns me. It happens to be most apparent at United, where there are at least a handful of 20-something widebody FOs who have popular Instagram accounts chronicling their travels. I accept that I'm taking the risk of less experienced pilots on a regional route, but I really feel better having the most experienced pilots in the fleet to fly me over open ocean. Call me old-school.
first, if there is confirmation that the FAA is lifting expansion restrictions on United, there should be more than an "I am hearing" from jon.
second, Boeing's delivery delays are having the biggest impact on UA's rapid expansion - not just receiving 1/3 of the MAXs they planned at one point for 2024 but just 5 787s, most weighted in the second half of the year.
third, economics will have the biggest impact on UA's expansion. Internationally, the DOT just released profitability by global region data for the 4th quarter and it shows that UA, once again, lost money over the Pacific while eaking out a tiny profit over the Atlantic and having the smallest profit of the big 3 in Latin America. UA has way too much international capacity in the 4th and 1st quarters and they have just moved it around from one part of the world to another.
UA can take consolation that AA lost money flying both the Atlantic and Pacific for the entire year, offset only by its profits in Latin America - but meaning AA's international system operates on a breakeven basis.
DL is the US' international airline in terms of profitability. Delta made 50% more money than UA while flying 30% less international capacity.
Cranky Flier's recent data shows that UA's massive expansion in the Pacific delivered poor results - and UA has now cancelled LAX-AKL and BNE. Their strategy of trying to flood LAX w/ international capacity so that DL couldn't expand didn't work and hurt UA far more than any other airline.
Domestically, UA did not succeed in getting Airbus to deliver large numbers of A321NEOs so UA will be facing at least 2 years of more "normal" growth which will then mean that large portions of its new deliveries in 2026 and beyond will have to go for fleet replacement, cutting UA Next into a fraction of what it was intended to be.
The FAA didn't need to continue w/ growth restrictions - if that happened - because supply chain concerns will impact UA just as much or more than for other airlines.
tl;dr
Bunch of fluff about how you're wrong. Then "Delta made 50% more money than UA while flying 30% less." Followed by more fluff about how you're wrong.
In a weird way, I feel like I'd prefer a younger pilot. They are more fresh out of training/flight school so while I assume every pilot is excellently adept to be ready for an emergency, I'd expect younger pilots (not necessarily first day on the job) to be slightly more equipped to handle, and additionally I'd assume they're a little more energetic and less complicit. Call me new-school
in other words, you and a whole lot of other people can't accept facts that you don't like - despite the fact that they are accurate.
If you don't think the DOT's numbers - which are based solely on data provided by airlines - is inaccurate, then tell us how the pie should be redivided. The whole has to equal the same total number. Since UA's domestic system made just 40% of DL's, if you want to make international profits larger, then domestic becomes much less profitable.
I wonder if a deal was made. Heating Reagan is going to get five more slot pairs beyond the perimeter rule. United isn’t going to like that with the Dulles hub
No one is "fresh" out of anything if every commercial pilot (FAA Part 121)
is required to have a minimum of 1500 hours to get into the right seat. That took me almost 18 months after flight training in the military.
there was no deal made between the FAA and United; Congress made the decision to add flights to DCA.
United simply did what it needed to do to ensure its employees are properly trained and supervised.
Wait, you are saying that many wide body Captains at United are in their 20's? Where did you get this statistic? I have never witnessed this ever as a weekly passenger on them so am really curious. At cargo airlines you may see this. But mainline commercial? Please provide statistics to back this up.
The FAA says "not so fast" on letting go of restrictions on UA's growth.
WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it has not approved any expansion of United Airlines' routes or fleets and is requiring the presence of FAA personnel when United conducts final inspections of new aircraft replacing older models.