United CEO Scott Kirby Unexpectedly Changes Tune on the FAA

On Tuesday, United CEO Scott Kirby met with the acting head of the FAA. After his harsh criticisms of the Federal Aviation Administration, the United CEO executive now changed his tune on the agency.

On June 26, in a memo to United employees, Kirby criticized the agency saying that “the FAA frankly failed us this weekend.” He added in the memo that “over 150,000 customers on United alone were impacted this weekend because of FAA staffing issues and their ability to manage traffic.”

United CEO: Heroic Efforts by the FAA

Acting FAA Administrator Polly Trottenberg had the chance to meet with Kirby. But now, Kirby changed his opinion on the agency saying that the FAA had been “particularly helpful, responsive, and communicative” for the past two weeks.

Kirby even said that “It’s been the best two weeks that we’ve ever had.” During the thunderstorms on Sunday, Kirby praised the agency saying that the FAA responded well. On that day, canceled flights were at 30%  in the New York area including that of the airline’s Newark hub.

Kirby said that the agency deserves “a lot of credit for what they have been doing the last few weeks.” The fact that the FAA was only “54% staffed in New York,” Kirby called it a “heroic” effort.

The FAA had its share of problems recently, especially in New York. With the shortage of air traffic controllers, airlines like United urged the FAA to intensify its hiring efforts. Unfortunately, in a government audit released last month, the FAA still doesn’t have a plan on how to address the shortage. According to Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, staffing issues only contribute to less than 10% of the total delays.

In a separate July 1 memo after bad weather caused additional flight disruptions, Kirby said “Newark has more flights scheduled than the physical infrastructure can handle.” The same memo mentioned that the United CEO and Transportation Secretary along with the FAA had “constructive conversations.”