Global Courant
Planes are seen on the tarmac as people wait for their flight change at the Newark International Airport on June 27, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey.
Kena Betancur | Getty Images News | Getty Images
United AirlinesWithout more gates, CEO Scott Kirby said the airline will have to shorten or change schedules to deal with the frequent gridlock at its hub in Newark, New Jersey, a message that came after massive flight delays hampered travel over the July 4 holiday weekend. marred. The carrier gave 30,000 frequent flyer miles to customers hardest hit by the chaos.
“This has been one of the most operationally challenging weeks I have experienced in my entire career,” Kirby said in a note to staff on Saturday.
He said the airline needs more gates at Newark Liberty International Airport because of frequent aircraft backups there. “We will have to further modify/shorten our schedule to give ourselves even more spare ports and buffer – especially during the storm season,” he added. United has not given more details about the timetable reduction.
A day earlier, Kirby apologized for taking a private jet from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport while thousands of passengers were stranded, CNBC first reported Friday.
The trouble began last weekend with a series of thunderstorms in some of the country’s most congested airspace along the east coast, cutting off routes for planes. While most airlines recovered, United’s problems continued throughout the week, angering customers and crews alike. United and JetBlue Airways executives said problems with air traffic control exacerbated the disruptions.
Kirby explained the week’s problems and said long-term changes were needed. He said the extensive departure delays that had been accumulating at the Newark hub since last weekend were hurting its operation. In some cases, takeoffs were delayed by more than 8 hours from Sunday to Tuesday by as much as 75%.
“Airlines, including United, are simply not designed to severely limit capacity at their largest hub for four consecutive days and still operate successfully,” he wrote.
Aircraft and crews were then left out of position, something that often happens during severe weather and can cause a cascade of disruptions for customers.
Unions complained of hours of waiting for crew members to get assignments and hotels, forcing them to stay longer at airports.
Kirby said the carrier needs to improve the platforms to make it easier for crews to get assignments and accommodations through the app, saying what happened over the past week is not acceptable.
Kirby called for more investment in the FAA and air traffic control to avoid delays and staff shortages, some of which occurred after hiring and training was interrupted early in the pandemic.
United sent the 30,000 miles to customers who were delayed overnight or didn’t get to their destination at all, a spokeswoman said. She declined to say how many customers received the email.
More than 42,000 U.S. flights arrived late Saturday through Friday and more than 7,900 were canceled — or more than 5% of airline schedules — a rate more than three times the average to date this year, according to flight tracker FlightAware. United fared worse than competitors with about half of its main schedule being late and nearly a fifth canceled in that period, FlightAware data shows.
United’s operation improved on Saturday, but disruptions continued. About a third of the main schedule, or nearly 864 flights, were delayed and 60 flights, or 2%, were cancelled, compared to 1,327 delays and 252 cancellations on Friday.
