Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, from United Airlines company, taking off from Barcelona airport, in Barcelona on twenty eighth March 2023.
JanValls | Nurphoto | Getty Images
United Airlines is asking pilots to take unpaid break day next month, citing late-arriving aircraft from Boeing, in accordance with a note sent to pilots.
It’s one other example of how Boeing’s customers say the manufacturer’s production problems and safety crisis are impacting their growth plans. The offer comes after United and other airlines lately have clamored for more pilots when the Covid-19 pandemic travel slump ended and demand surged.
“As a consequence of recent changes to our Boeing deliveries, the remaining 2024 forecast block hours for United have been significantly reduced,” the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, the pilots’ union, said in a note to members on Friday. “While the delivery issues surround our 787 and 737 fleets, the impact will affect other fleets as well.”
United confirmed the request for voluntary unpaid break day. The airline previously said it might pause pilot hiring this spring due to aircraft arriving late from Boeing, CNBC reported last month.
The union said it expects United to supply more break day “for the summer bid periods and potentially into the autumn.”
United was contracted to receive 43 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes and 34 Max 9 models this yr, but now expects to receive 37 and 19, respectively, in accordance with an organization filing in February. It had expected Boeing would also hand over 80 Max 10s this yr and 71 next yr. That model hasn’t yet been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the airline removed them from the delivery schedule since it is “unable to accurately forecast the expected delivery period,” it said within the filing.
United CEO Scott Kirby has been amongst essentially the most vocal concerning the production problems and delivery delays at Boeing, including most recently the crisis stemming from a door plug that blew out of a virtually recent Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by an Alaska Airlines flight that was at about 16,000 feet.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun last week announced he would depart at the top of the yr as a part of a broad leadership shakeup, which included the departures of the board chairman and the pinnacle of Boeing’s industrial airplanes unit.
