The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has said, despite United Airlines sending a memo to staff saying they had gotten ""good news"" regarding its certification activities, that ""it has not approved any expansion of United Airlines' routes or fleets and is requiring the presence of FAA personnel when United conducts final inspections of new aircraft replacing older models"".
United Airlines sent out a memo, seen by Airline Economics, to staff on Thursday (May 16) saying that it had been told by the FAA that the airline was allowed to ""after a careful review and discussion about the proactive safety steps United has taken to date... to begin the process of restarting our certification activities, including new aircraft and routes"".
However, the FAA has since released a statement to Reuters disputing this, saying: ""The FAA has not approved any expansion of United Airlines' routes or fleets.
""The Certificate Holder Evaluation Program, is ongoing and safety will determine the timeline for completing it.""
Some of United's airline certification activities were halted after the FAA said in March it was increasing its oversight following several recent safety incidents, including a United 737 Max 8 that ran off a taxiway in Houston, an Osaka-bound 777-200 that lost a tire following take-off at San Francisco International airport and a 737-800 that landed in Oregon without an external panel.
This was followed by the initiation of a formal evaluation to ensure that United was complying with safety regulations.
The FAA said the evaluation is to ensure the Chicago-based airline ""is complying with safety regulations; identifying hazards and mitigating risk; and effectively managing safety.""
In March, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told Reuters the agency was looking at United more closely following the recent incidents, saying United CEO Scott Kirby ""knows we're going to be engaging a little more closely with them as we look into these"".
US FAA says it has not approved United expansions despite staff memo
