"We are offering our pilots voluntary programs for the month of May to reduce excess staffing," a United spokesperson said in a statement to NPR, attributing the decision to "recent delays in Boeing deliveries."
United says it won't have to cut flights.
The effort to trim pilot staffing is the latest sign that production problems at Boeing and its suppliers are rippling through the aviation industry. The plane maker has been forced to reduce deliveries of its 737 Max jets after a door plug panel blew out in midair during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Boeing says it's slowed production at its factory near Seattle to focus on quality and safety, as regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration push the company and its supplier for a plan to fix widespread manufacturing problems.
The launch of the larger 737 Max 10 model has also been delayed indefinitely. United had been expecting to begin receiving those jets this year, but is now considering other options to replace them.
"Deliveries are going to be way behind what they expected," United CEO Scott Kirby said at an investor conference last month, confirming that the company has looked into buying additional planes from Boeing's rival, Airbus
In the end, I decide what gives me peace of mind.
If I watch a merger happen with a solid company (like Boeing) and a less solid company (like McDonnell Douglas), then watch as new (McDonnell) execs decide to cut corners over and over until safety becomes an issue where it did not previously exist, I have a right to feel less comfortable.
If I see execs continuously saying "nothing to see here" while big problems are found more than once, I have the right to feel less comfortable. (Lying their way through MCAS and cutting much of their QC processes)
It's crazy that someone thinks they should defend a company's behavior like this. If I want to have an easy way to avoid flying on certain planes so I can feel safer while also directing my money elsewhere, I should be able to.
If it's me you think is defending Boeing, I don't see anything I wrote that does that. I think Boeing is an embarrassment. I even said "it’s very important that the culture at Boeing and the FAA changes".
My whole thing is just about how crazy safe it is to fly on an airliner, Boeing or not.
There are websites like Kayak that do allow you to filter by aircraft type, if that's your thing. I still think it'd be sorta silly for an airline to say "here are flights that are more safe than the rest of our flights", when that's not really true.