United’s Fleet Takes A Hit With Boeing 737 MAX & 777 Groundings - Simple Flying

After facing the surprise grounding of select Boeing 777 aircraft that has kept most of the 777-200s out of the schedule, the airline faced another blow today with the surprise 737 MAX announcement.

While the latest issue with the MAX does not affect all of the airline’s aircraft, United has pulled out a sizable number of jets from service temporarily.

A United Airlines Boeing 777, shortly after takeoff from Denver to Honolulu, suffered an engine failure.

Then, on April 9th, Boeing announced it had recommended 16 customers to pull select 737 MAX jets from service to address a potential electrical issue.

The good news for United Airlines is that the issue does not affect all of the airline’s Boeing 737 MAX jets, but a fair number of United’s 777 fleet remains parked.

For example, United has formerly used those aircraft to run flights from hubs like Houston, Chicago, and Washington D.C.

For example, on select flights from San Francisco to Honolulu, United has upgraded some flights to Boeing 777-300ER-operated journeys, which represents an improvement in terms of both capacity and product.

It will need to weigh the anticipated length and impact of rectifying the latest issue, which could only take a couple of days or perhaps a few weeks, and decide if it would be worthwhile to bring out parked jets.