Scott Kirby travel tips

Southwest Airlines is removing the Boeing 737 Max 7 from its 2024 fleet plans due to certification delays. 

Another blockbuster summer awaits, United Airlines said on Wednesday, despite cautioning headwinds will force changes to the carrier's ambitious growth strategy for the coming years.

From Boeing delivery delays and increased Federal Aviation Administration oversight to escalations in the Middle East, it would seem like United Airlines might be in hot water. 

United Airlines would have turned a profit in the first quarter of 2024 had it not been for a door plug blowing off an Alaska Airlines jet mid-flight in January.

United Airlines reported it took a $200 million hit during the first-quarter from the Max 9 grounding, according to a regulatory filing posted Tuesday. 

United Airlines is reportedly developing a new class of seating, which is said to be a business class inside the existing business class.

The American Airlines pilots’ union said it has noticed a “significant spike” in safety and maintenance-related incidents. 

Around a dozen United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside LaGuardia Airport on Thursday, demanding better pay and working conditions. 

United Airlines has postponed a pair of inaugural flights, citing delays by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following a series of recent safety incidents.

United Airlines has scrapped plans for a new transatlantic route this summer, just weeks ahead of its maiden flight. The highly unusual decision to cancel the service comes amid an audit of the company by U.S. regulators.

United Airlines’ top executive saw his salary nearly double in 2023. 

United Airlines appointed Estee Lauder executive Michelle Freyre to its board of directors Monday, making her the second woman to join the carrier’s board this year. 

United Airlines is offering pilots unpaid time off in May due to delivery delays with Boeing aircraft, the airline confirmed Monday. 

On this episode about Boeing's woes and air safety, clockwise from top left: Aviation reporters Robert Silk of Travel Weekly and David Slotnick of The Points Guy, and Folo host Rebecca Tobin.

The start of 2024 has brought a barrage of concerning headlines about commercial air travel.

The Federal Aviation Administration is increasing its oversight of United Airlines following a string of safety incidents. 

In recent weeks, United Airlines aircraft have experienced at least 10 maintenance and flight diversion issues, some more dramatic than others. While United CEO Scott Kirby issued a statement this week saying the issues were “all unrelated” and “have our attention and have sharpened our focus,” nervous fliers may be wondering if this “focus” is enough.

The airline industry barely survived its last black swan event, the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, U.S. passenger numbers dropped by almost 95%. By June of that year, some 16,000 planes had been taken out of service.

After a spate of high-profile airline industry incidents, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has issued a memo addressing safety concerns.In the memo Kirby said safety is the airline’s top priority, according to a report from The Points Guy.The airline CEO also discussed United’s own safety incidents, including acknowledging the airline has had “a number” of such incidents."While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus," Kirby wrote, per The Points Guy. "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.”The memo from the CEO also indicates that United is working on rolling out a variety of new safety measures. Though Kirby also explained that the new safety upgrades were in the works before United’s recent spate of safety episodes. Some of the new measures the airline will be implementing include an extra day of training for pilots and new curriculum for maintenance technicians."I'm confident that we'll learn the right lessons from these recent incidents and continue to run an operation that puts safety first and makes our employees and customers proud," Kirby added.Kirby’s memo comes on the heels of a rocky few months for the airline industry as a whole. The most significant of which was the January 5 incident involving a Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737 Max flight during which a door plug blew off after take-off and the plane was required to make an emergency landing.A handful of passengers who were on that Alaska Airlines flight have since filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Boeing, alleging negligence on the part of the plane manufacturer.As for United Airlines, one of its flights involving a 737 Max rolled off the runway at George W. Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston recently. Part of the plane’s landing gear collapsed as a result. That United incident followed a tire falling from a Boeing 777-200 plane (also flown by United) one day earlier.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, March 19. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby sought to reassure travelers that safety is the carrier’s highest priority following a series of mishaps with its Boeing jets.

United Airlines’ CEO is assuring customers flying with the carrier is safe following a series of mid-air and on-the-ground incidents.