United Postpones Two International Inaugural Flights Following Safety Incidents

09.04.2024 - 17:01 / travelandleisure.com / Scott Kirby / Airlines

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

The airline has delayed the start of a new route between Newark and Faro in the Algarve region of Portugal as well as between Tokyo and Cebu in the Philippines, United confirmed to Travel + Leisure. The decision was made to halt the routes following a pause on some FAA certifications. 

A spokesperson for United told T+L customers who were scheduled to fly on these delayed routes “can receive full refunds or we will rebook their travel on one of our partner airlines without a fee.”

The Portugal route, which United first announced last year, was set to launch on May 24 and operate four times each week on a Boeing 757-200 aircraft. At the time of the announcement, United said it would have made it the first airline to fly direct between the United States and Faro.

United told T+L it would now plan to launch that flight in the summer of 2025.

The nonstop flight between Tokyo and Cebu was set to launch July 31 with daily flights on Boeing 737-800 aircraft, United noted. That flight is now scheduled to launch on Oct. 27.

The FAA’s probe of United came on the heels of several recent mid-air and on-the-ground incidents, including an aircraft panel falling off mid-flight, an aircraft losing a wheel during takeoff, and a plane’s engine catching fire. The increased oversight also followed United’s discovery of loose bolts on its 737 MAX 9 aircraft following a mid-air blowout of a plug door panel on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 plane.

Last month, United’s CEO Scott Kirby assured customers in a memo that “Safety is our highest priority and is at the center of everything we do.” 

While these routes are delayed, the airline does plan on expanding closer to home this summer, including adding new flights to national parks and outdoor destinations in Canada and introducing a new route to Anchorage, Alaska.