NEW YORK -- United CEO Scott Kirby is apologizing to customers and his own employees after taking a private jet during a week when his airline was cancelling thousands of flights.
The airline confirmed Kirby flew from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Denver, Colorado, on Wednesday, and that the company did not pay for his flight. Teterboro is about 17 miles from Newark, New Jersey, where one of United鈥檚 largest hubs is located and which was the centre of the airline鈥檚 meltdown this week.
In a statement, Kirby said he regrets that his actions distracted from the professionalism of United employees.
鈥淭aking a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers who were waiting to get home,鈥� Kirby said in a statement. 鈥淚 sincerely apologize to our customers and our team members who have been working around-the-clock for several days 鈥� often through severe weather 鈥� to take care of our customers.鈥�
On Wednesday, many customers at Newark Liberty International Airport couldn鈥檛 get to their destinations because there were no flights available. United customers have been plagued by flight delays, cancellations and lost luggage this week.
Going forward, Kirby promised 鈥渢o better demonstrate my respect for the dedication of our team members and the loyalty of our customers.鈥�
CENTRE OF TROUBLES
The airline has cancelled more than 3,000 flights since Saturday, stranding thousands of customers. On Friday as of the evening, United had 979 flight delays, or 34 per cent of its operations, and 234 cancelled flights, according to FlightAware.
Kirby blamed much of the problems with the airline鈥檚 service meltdown on the Federal Aviation Administration and a lack of adequate staffing at air traffic control centres, particularly in the New York area.
鈥淭he FAA frankly failed us this weekend,鈥� said Kirby in an internal company memo to United staff shared with CNN on Wednesday.
He said the FAA reduced arrival rates at Newark by 40 per cent and departure rates by 75 per cent was 鈥渁lmost certainly a reflection of understaffing/lower experience at the FAA.鈥�
But Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who oversees the FAA, pushed back on that criticism of his agency Wednesday evening on CNN Primetime.
鈥淟ook, United Airlines has some internal issues they need to work through. They鈥檝e really been struggling this week, even relative to other US airlines,鈥� he told CNN鈥檚 Kaitlan Collins.
While he agreed there needs to be more air traffic controllers, Buttigieg said 鈥淚 want to be very clear, air traffic control issues are not the number one issue causing cancellations and delays. They鈥檙e not even the number two issue. All the data, including industry鈥檚 own data is very clear on that.鈥�
