Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, from United Airlines, taking off from Barcelona Airport, in Barcelona, on March 28, 2023.
JanValls | Nuphoto | Getty Images
United Airlines asks pilots to take unpaid leave next month, citing planes arriving late Boeingaccording to a memo sent to pilots.
It’s another example of how Boeing customers say the automaker’s production problems and safety crisis are impacting their growth plans. The offer comes after United and other airlines clamored for more pilots in recent years as the travel crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic ended and demand increased.
“Due to recent changes in our Boeing deliveries, United’s remaining scheduled 2024 block hours have been significantly reduced,” the United Chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, the pilots’ union, said Friday. “While the delivery issues affect our 787 and 737 fleets, the impact will affect other fleets as well.”
United confirmed the request for voluntary unpaid leave. The airline previously announced it would suspend pilot recruiting this spring due to the late arrival of planes from Boeing, CNBC reported last month.
The union said it expects United to offer more time off “for summer application periods and potentially into the fall.”
United had received a contract to receive 43 Boeing 737 Max 8 and 34 Max 9 model aircraft this year, but now expects to receive 37 and 19, respectively, according to a company filing in February. He expected Boeing to also deliver 80 Max 10s this year and 71 next year. This model has not yet been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the airline has removed them from the delivery schedule because it is “unable to accurately predict the expected delivery period,” it said in the case.
United CEO Scott Kirby has been among the most vocal about production problems and delivery delays at Boeing, including most recently the crisis resulting from a door jam that exploded from a Boeing Almost new 737 Max 9 operated by a Alaska Airlines flight which took place at approximately 16,000 feet.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced last week that he would leave at the end of the year as part of a broad management shakeup, which included the departure of the board’s chairman and chief of Boeing’s commercial aircraft unit.
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