In recent weeks, United Airlines has been in the news for a series of incidents and accidents. Now the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is stepping up oversight of the airline. What a strange situation…
Regulators reviewing United Airlines’ operation
Regulators in the United States are taking a closer look at United Airlines’ operation. As an FAA spokesperson explains:
“Due to recent safety events, the FAA is increasing oversight of United Airlines 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.”
As you can see, details are fairly limited as of now. I think a key point here is how “future projects may be delayed” based on the findings of this investigation. While we’ll have to see how this plays out, this could involve things like putting new aircraft into service, adding new routes, and more.
It’s interesting to see how United’s VP of Corporate Safety is framing this, in a memo to employees:
We have a strong safety culture at United. Still, the number of safety-related events in recent weeks have rightfully caused us to pause and evaluate whether there is anything we can and should do differently.
As you’d expect, we’ve stepped up our interactions with the FAA recently and they echoed these sentiments. They agree that we need to take an even closer look at multiple areas of our operation to ensure we are doing all we can to promote and drive safety compliance.
Over the next several weeks, we will begin to see more of an FAA presence in our operation as they begin to review some of our work processes, manuals and facilities. We welcome their engagement and are very open to hear from them about what they find and their perspective on things we may need to change to make us even safer. As part of this effort, the FAA will also pause a variety of certification activities for a period of time. Those activities will differ depending on the work group and we will learn more from the FAA about that soon.
The way this is written, you’d think that United reached out to the FAA for help with reviewing its operation, while clearly the opposite is true. I guess I can’t blame United for trying to frame it that way, though I’m not sure that makes the airline look any better? “Hey, I think we’re not capable of managing ourselves safely, so we’ve asked the FAA for help.”
This latest update comes just shortly after United CEO Scott Kirby sent a memo to employees, trying to address the spat of recent safety issues at United.
What’s going on with safety at United Airlines?
It’s hard to know what exactly to make of this situation as of now. There’s simply no denying that the US airline industry (and most of the global airline industry, for that matter) has historically had an unwavering commitment to safety. Heck, its just about the only thing you can rely on when you step onto a plane.
There’s also no denying that United has had a series of incidents in recent weeks that are concerning. That being said, to some extent it almost seems like the media is over reporting some situations, ever since the Alaska Boeing 737 MAX incident at the beginning of the year. Anything involving a Boeing jet suddenly makes national headlines. Just days ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reported when a United plane returned to the gate over a maintenance issue — this is something that happens a countless number of times daily, and isn’t news.
So has United just had a series of incidents that were an unlucky coincidence, or what has suddenly changed at United that has made the airline less safe? There are a few potential factors I can think of, though none fully explain the sudden increase in incidents:
- United has the oldest fleet of the “big three” US carriers, and while older aircraft are absolutely safe, it’s also not unusual for them to have more incidents over time; for example, you’ll find a lot more stories involving 767s than you’ll find involving 787s
- The industry overall definitely has a “juniority” problem, where you have a lot more junior pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers, etc., than before the pandemic, and there’s no denying that the lack of experience eliminates a safety cushion (though that’s true of the entire industry, and not just at United)
- United has grown faster than American and Delta in the past couple of years, and one has to wonder if that has contributed to cutting some corners
I don’t know what exactly to think here. I do have to imagine that the FAA is investigating United for some reason other than just media hype of recent incidents. But I also have a hard time imagining that something radical has changed at United in recent weeks.
As much as US airlines continue to operate safely in terms of people getting to their destination unharmed, there’s no denying that the safety cushion in the US airline industry has decreased since the pandemic.
We’ve seen an increase in near misses across the industry. It also can’t be understated how much more junior the workforce is. In some cases you now have wide body captains at US airlines in their 20s, with just a couple of years experience at the airline. Meanwhile back in the day, it took 20+ years of seniority to get to that point. Experience matters, and at the moment the industry lacks experience.
Bottom line
The Federal Aviation Administration is stepping up oversight of United Airlines. We’re being warned that we could see delays in certification activities at the airline, which could eventually limit United’s growth in terms of new aircraft, pilots, and more. I’m curious to see what comes of this investigation, as this certainly doesn’t reflect well on the airline.
What do you make of the FAA investigating United?
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