Agency Ends Period of Enhanced Oversight

After nearly 7 months, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has put an end to its period of increased oversight on United Airlines. The agency found no significant red flags in its safety review.

The FAA opened a review of United Airlines in March following a chain of concerning incidents. In February, a faulty actuator caused rudder pedals to jam on one of the carrier’s Boeing 737s. Then, on March 15, a United Boeing 737-800 flight shed an external panel while traveling from San Francisco to Rogue Valley. Other slips include a hydraulic failure, runway excursion, and three separate instances of tires falling off after departure.

Despite these incidents, the FAA reported that "the review did not identify any significant safety issues” and that the airline's precautionary efforts were "really strong".

The airline was subject to several indirect restrictions during this period. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker commented that United was allowed to accept delivery of new aircraft, but required the presence of agency officials while conducting final inspections of replacement aircraft. Despite this, the airline deferred delivery of nine Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft.

United also delayed the opening of two new international routes. The airline required certifications from the FAA that were paused once the safety review began.

These restrictions did not hinder United’s travel capacity, but may have increased operating costs by forcing it to keep an older fleet in service for longer than planned.

The FAA opened a similar review of Southwest Airlines in July. This called out several near-miss incidents involving unusually low approaches to landing. Whitaker recently commented that the Southwest review "is a bit more narrow" than that of United.

FMI: www.united.com