United plane incidents prompt CEO to launch safety review

The head of United Airlines Holdings Inc. told customers that the carrier is reviewing a series of recent mishaps involving its planes, promising any lessons learned would “inform our safety training and procedures” across the company.

“Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, our airline has experienced a number of incidents that are reminders of the importance of safety,” Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said in a note to passengers Monday. “While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus.”

While the CEO didn’t detail the events, United earlier this month suffered multiple headline-grabbing issues in the span of just a few days, including an aircraft in Houston that ran off the taxiway into a grassy area. Another United plane lost a tire shortly after departing from San Francisco, while a Houston-to-Florida flight had to make an emergency landing after one of its engines began spewing flames. Last week, a United aircraft landed safely in Oregon with a missing panel.

Kirby’s appeal to customers highlights the enhanced scrutiny being given to commercial airliner incidents — even when there are no passenger injuries — in the wake of the midair blowout of a door plug on a nearly new Boeing Co. jet earlier this year. The Federal Aviation Administration previously said it would investigate the four United incidents, all of which involved Boeing planes.

In addition to using insights from the mishaps to enhance safety procedures, United said it already had several planned changes, including an additional day of in-person training for pilots starting in May and a centralized curriculum for new maintenance technicians. The airline is also dedicating more resources to supplier network management, Kirby said.