This year has been a bumpy one for the aviation industry, with United Airlines being one of the large carriers involved in repeated incidents over the last few months. In spite of these issues, experts insist that flight is still the safest form of travel. Proof of that statement lies in the fact that there were no fatal accidents involving commercial jet aircraft throughout the United States in 2023. Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently addressed these concerns due to the recurring incidents that have taken place. He called the American aviation industry the safest form of travel in the world.
Why is it, then, that United Airlines seems to find itself in some sort of controversy every other week? Airline industry analyst Kit Darby mentioned that the recent incidents involving this particular airline are nothing but a massive coincidence. The first incident in a long series involves a Florida-bound flight where an engine caught on fire. According to the preliminary findings, this took place after the engine apparently sucked in bubble wrap, which disturbed the engine’s normal functions.
Sometime after that, a flight from San Francisco to Mexico City was diverted to Los Angeles after reports of a hydraulic system failure. The plane landed safely in LA, and no one was injured, but the fact that it lost a tire in the process wasn’t ideal PR for United. Coincidentally, another flight out of San Francisco also lost one of its tires. Finally, in what was perhaps the most concerning situation of them all, a flight from Tennessee skidded off the runway into a grassy area after arriving in Houston. Again, no one was injured in the process, but none of these mishaps are making travelers trust the brand more.
United is not the only airline that has faced scrutiny over the last few months due to in-flight incidents. In fact, there’s an argument that what has taken place at Alaska Airlines is even more concerning. It was early February when a door from the Boeing 737 Max flew off mid-flight, which affected not just Alaska Airline’s image but Boeing’s as well. The investigation into the incident concluded that there were insufficient bolts to hold down the door. This led to all the airline’s 737 planes being grounded for further inspection.
Alaska Airlines has continued to have issues with its doors. In the first weekend of March a flight from San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, to Portland, Oregon, arrived with its cargo door open, putting not only baggage but also pets forced to fly in that part of the plane in jeopardy. Again, there were no casualties to report. However, the growing number of incidents is naturally one that has people uneasy about air travel, particularly through the aforementioned airlines that have seemingly had very unlucky breaks throughout the current year. The silver lining may be that none of the incidents feature correlating causes that could lead experts to believe another massive accident would be imminent.
