FILE - Two United Airlines Boeing 737s are parked at the gate at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., July 7, 2022. United Airlines said Friday, March 22, 2024, that federal regulators are increasing their oversight of the carrier following a series of recent incidents including a piece of the outer fuselage falling off one jet and another suffering an engine fire on takeoff.
United's vice president of corporate safety, Sasha Johnson, said the Federal Aviation Administration will examine “multiple areas of our operation” to ensure safety compliance.“Over the next several weeks, we will begin to see more of an FAA presence in our operation as they begin to review some of our work processes, manuals and facilities,” she said in a note to employees.
In a statement, an agency spokesperson said FAA oversight “focuses on an airline’s compliance with applicable regulations; ability to identify hazards, assess and mitigate risk; and effectively manage safety.” Earlier this week, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told NBC News, “We are going to look at each one of these incidents and see if we see a pattern. … No one likes to see this spike of incidents."Kirby said the airline was already planning an extra day of training for pilots starting in May and making changes in training curriculum for newly hired mechanics and that it would consider additional changes.United is the nation's second-largest airline by revenue, behind Delta Air Lines.
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