Continuing with my series of airline analysis, it’s time to go over the state of Chicago-based United Airlines and their recent issues. Just like British Airways, United’s fleet always fascinated me because they are the only airline that has every Boeing twinjet widebody in their fleet. Not only that, but their narrowbody fleet is diverse as well featuring an assortment of Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Despite this, about 80% of their fleet is Boeing. Perhaps this is because this airline started out as a subsidiary of Boeing in 1927 as Boeing Air Transport before being spun off in 1931. Every time I go to a United hub such as SFO or EWR, they have always been an entertaining airline to spot. In this blog, I will go over the fleet, current issues they are facing and future plans as this airline continues to “fly the friendly skies.”
Fleet
Narrowbodies
Boeing
When it comes to narrowbodies, United has almost every narrowbody twinjet in the industry. However as previously mentioned, this area is mainly dominated by Boeing with these figures:
40 757-200s
21 757-300s
40 737-700s
141 737-800s
15 737-900s
136 737-900ERs
85 737 MAX 8s
79 737 MAX 9s
The most unique aircraft in this part of their fleet however is the Boeing 757. Along with Delta Airlines, United is the only other US carrier to utilize the Boeing 757 for their narrowbody fleet. These planes were inherited from Continental Airlines after they merged in 2011. United uses these planes for a variety of missions such as long and skinny transatlantic routes like Newark to Faro, Portugal (pushed back to 2025)/Edinburgh, Scotland or Chicago to Edinburgh, Scotland/Dublin, Ireland. As well as these routes, the 757s also fly hub-to-hub routes such as Chicago-Los Angeles. Other than the 757s, their 737s are used alongside their A320s to serve smaller markets such as Orange County or Seattle. Initially they were planning to receive more 737 MAX 10s but United CEO Scott Kirby decided to swap these orders for more A321Neos due in part to Boeing’s recent issues.
Airbus
Airbus currently has a smaller footprint in United’s fleet catalog and as of right now, they are all narrowbodies. It consists of: (81 A319-100s, 89 A320-200s, and 6 A321Neos). The A321Neos are the newest narrowbodies in the fleet. Currently they have 130 on order with 30 scheduled to be delivered this year. These planes have United’s new domestic first class product as well as USB-A and USB-C chargers in every seat to go along with their Bluetooth IFE. They are made to replace the aforementioned Boeing 757s in the future on their routes. In addition, United placed an order for 50 A321XLRs that will have a new Polaris Business class and will be utilized on long and skinny transatlantic routes that the 757 used to fly. Thanks in large part to Boeing’s problems, United saw this as an opportunity to expand their portfolio for the Neo series.
Widebodies
Currently when it comes to widebodies, United are “Proudly all Boeing” consisting of: (37 767-300s, 16 767-400ERs, 19 777-200s, 55 777-200ERs, 22 777-300ERs, 12 787-8s, 38 787-9s, and 21 787-10s). The 767s, however are planned to be phased out within the next decade as United last year ordered up to 150 Dreamliners (which includes 50 787-9s to go along with the 100 Dreamliners ordered before). As for the 100 Dreamliners, United can choose among each of the three variants to provide flexibility on a wide variety of routes, whether those are high capacity leisure routes such as O’Hare-Athens (787-10) or business-centric routes such as San Francisco-Singapore (787-9). These aircraft will also allow United’s fleet to get younger and help reduce maintenance costs as well as their carbon footprint.
Historically, United was the launch customer of the Boeing 777 and helped with the design process of the type (for more about the 777, read my post about the Boeing 777). Along with American Airlines, United is the only US airline to have the 777-300ER. United mainly uses these planes for high capacity routes such as San Francisco-Hon Kong or Honolulu-Guam. As well as carrying large loads of passengers, the type also has huge freight capacity that would make it suitable to fly to cargo hubs such as Hong Kong.
As for the future of their widebody fleet, United ordered 45 A350-900s to replace older 777-200s. However the airline keeps deferring their orders year after year. The earliest the A350 can join the fleet would be 2030. And who knows if that’s going to happen anyways (I might do a post about this in the future if you’re interested). So with this diverse fleet of narrowbodies and widebodies and with their ambitious plans, inevitably the airline has been going through a lot of issues this year.
Issues
With this large fleet of diverse aircraft, inevitably it’s more likely that the airline will run into maintenance issues. In addition to the 737 MAX 9 being grounded for the January 5th incident with Alaska, United is facing a lot of scrutiny as well with aircraft maintenance. Since the beginning of the year, United faced at least 10 maintenance and diversion issues. Such as a 757 having one of its engines shut down on a flight from San Francisco to Honolulu or hydraulic leaks on a 777-300ER flight from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. This has been a PR nightmare for the airline in 2024 as United is getting a bad rep in the news.
However, industry experts aren’t hitting the panic button yet because United safety experts are investigating what went wrong and will find a way to mitigate the problem. Regardless, this has consequences on their ambitious plans as the FAA intervened by pushing back their service from Newark to Faro, Portugal to 2025 as well as delaying Tokyo-Cebu, Philippines to October 27th, 2024. Not only will new routes have to be approved by the FAA but new planes received from both Boeing and Airbus need to be approved by the FAA to prove they meet the regulatory requirements. In addition to this, United told Boeing to stop building the 737 MAX 10 swapping them for MAX 9s. As a result, Scott Kirby himself personally flew to Toulouse to work out a deal with Airbus to procure more A321neos. But despite these issues, is there anything to look forward to when it comes to United?
Future of United Airlines
Despite these problems United still has ambitious plans to improve the customer experience. Starting in 2021, United unveiled a plan called “United Next,” which not only will allow them to order 737 MAXs and A321neos, but retrofit the entirety of their fleet. That means all their narrowbodies will have IFE in all their seats with Bluetooth capability, larger baggage bins, new LED lighting and the industry’s fastest in-flight WiFi. In addition to the narrowbodies, United is currently refreshing the rest of their widebody fleet with the new Polaris Business Class, as well as Premium Plus seating to go along with the IFE and WiFi upgrades. In addition to interior upgrades, United Next plans include opening two new United Clubs in Denver including one at 35,000 sq. feet, which will be the largest in their network.
And speaking of Denver, United has ambitious plans to expand their Denver hub as mentioned in the CNBC video above. First off this summer United is planning 40 new flights which also includes expanded service to national parks and Canada. The airline invested $1 billion dollars into upgrading the airport’s infrastructure by adding new gates and the aforementioned clubs. Not only that, United purchased 113 acres of land near DIA. This will create a flight school campus that will have 12 flight simulators and a central utility plant. This will help their pilot education programs (United Aviate Academy, United Military Pilot Program).
Lastly United reaffirmed their commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050 by working with carbon capture company Svante to convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into sustainable aviation fuels. In addition, United is collaborating with hydrogen-electric engine developer ZeroAvia for 100 hydrogen fuel cell electric engines on the ZA600. Moreover, United is collaborating with Heart Aerospace to develop the ES-19 , which would be the first electric commercial airliner.
Lastly, United has plans with Boom Supersonic to procure 15 “Overture” airliners (with options for 35 more). These plans will be powered with 100% sustainable aviation fuels and can fly from Newark to London in 3 hours, Newark to Frankfurt in 4 hours or San Francisco to Tokyo in 6 hours at speeds up to Mach 1.7. With all this being said, despite all the issues United is facing at the moment, the Chicago-based carrier is trying to be one of the most technologically advanced airlines in the world. Time will tell if they will succeed with this.
Conclusion
United Airlines is an interesting airline to follow due to their diverse aircraft fleet, recent issues and their plans for expansion and becoming more sustainable. But what do you guys think? Is United biting off more than they can chew or will they succeed in reaching their goals in this current century? Be sure to let me know in the comments below and keep looking to the sky!
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