United Airlines CEO Speaks Out on Safety After Headline-Grabbing Incidents

A spate of recent airline safety events have captured public attention in recent weeks starting after a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight back in January, forcing an emergency landing. In recent weeks, several of the subsequent incidents have involved United Airlines, and now the company’s CEO Scott Kirby has spoken out in a new statement to customers. 

Kirby promised that the company is reviewing the safety issues that have popped up and will use the information it gathers to update its safety training for employees and procedures for the company. The company plans to implement an additional day of in-person training for pilots as well as a more standardized training process for its aircraft mechanics.  

“While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus,” Kirby said, adding that “Safety is our highest priority and is at the center of everything we do.”

On Friday, March 15, a United Airlines flight landed in Oregon with one of its external panels missing. Other recent incidents included a United plane rolling off the runway in Houston and another bound for Japan losing a tire upon takeoff in San Francisco. Back in February, a wing part on a United Airlines flight began to disintegrate while in the air. 

All incidents involved Boeing aircraft. Shortly after the Alaska Airlines incident, United announced that an inspection of its own Boeing 787 Max aircraft had found loose bolts and other issues. 

“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,” Kirby said.