United Airlines halts pilot hiring due to manufacturing delays at Boeing

Two United Airlines Boeing 737s are parked at the gate at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 7, 2022. United Airlines said Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, it will lose money in the first three months of this year because of the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after a panel blew out of a Max jetliner this month. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (Wilfredo Lee, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

United Airlines is not going to hire pilots until July due to manufacturing delays at Boeing and aircraft certifications.

New hire classes will also be paused in May and June, but they will resume in July.

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“As you know, United has hundreds of new planes on order and while we remain on a path to be the fastest growing airline in the industry, we just won’t grow as fast as we thought we would in 2024 due to continued delays at Boeing. For example, we had contractual deliveries for 80 MAX 10s this year alone – but those aircraft aren’t even certified yet and it’s impossible to know when they will arrive,” United said in a statement.

This shows United's contractual deliveries. (United Airlines)

The company also does not know how many Max 10 planes it will receive in 2025.

Additionally, United has hired 450 pilots in 2024 and expects to have hired more than 800 by the end of April. The company said they will be prepared for the spring and summer seasons.

Boeing has also been in the news after an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 door panel blew out while it was in the air. Some of these planes were temporarily grounded due to the incident.

United Airlines also had issues with a Boeing aircraft last month and two incidents were tied to Houston.


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