HOUSTON — United Airlines is working to reassure passengers that necessary actions are taking place to address safety concerns.
This comes as multiple incidents involving the airline have occurred just in the past month, like an engine fire after a plane took off from Bush Intercontinental Airport and another plane sliding off the runway at Bush Airport just a few days later.
In San Francisco, a tire fell off after take-off and in Oregon, a flight landed with a panel missing under a wing.
CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, emailed a letter to passengers Monday stating that while all of the recent incidents are unrelated, the company has a plan in place to address them.
"Safety is our highest priority and is at the center of everything we do," Kirby said in the email.
Kirby said to start, United Airlines 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."
This will be in addition to some changes that were already in the works, like an extra day of in-person training for all pilots and a centralized training curriculum for our new maintenance technicians.
Kirby also said he encourages all employees to speak up if they see something wrong.
"You can be confident that every time a United plane pulls away from the gate, everyone on our team is working together to keep you safe on your trip," Kirby said.
Read the full letter to passengers below:
Of all the things that make me proud of our team at United Airlines, I'm most proud of the culture we've built around the safety of our employees and our customers.
Safety is our highest priority and is at the center of everything we do.
Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, our airline has experienced a number of incidents that are reminders of the importance of safety. While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus.
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. This is in addition to some changes that were already planned, including an extra day of in-person training for all pilots starting in May and a centralized training curriculum for our new-hire maintenance technicians. We're also dedicating more resources to supplier network management.
We empower our team to speak up and raise their hand if they see something wrong. You can be confident that every time a United plane pulls away from the gate, everyone on our team is working together to keep you safe on your trip.
In the past few years, we've done a lot at United to build a new culture, improve our business and earn your trust. 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.
Thank you for flying United, and I hope to see you onboard soon.
Sincerely,
Scott Kirby
