United 777's grounded...

[Montague S]

United Advises Customers of Some Delays and Cancellations Today
Wednesday April 2, 6:30 am ET


CHICAGO, April 2, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United Airlines is informing customers traveling on April 2, 2008 on United's Boeing 777 aircraft that they may experience flight delays or cancellations as a result of a functional check being performed on the aircraft.

As part of a regular review of maintenance records, the company discovered that the functional test that checks the firing system on one of the five bottles in the cargo fire suppression system on the Boeing 777 was not performed, and this was voluntarily disclosed to the FAA. United is in the process of checking this part of the system. This system is regularly tested as part of the pre-flight safety checks.

These checks are related to compliance. United will not operate these aircraft until the tests are complete.

United will conduct the check on all 52 Boeing 777 aircraft in the company's fleet.

We apologize for any inconvenience and ask customers to check their flight status on united.com before leaving for the airport. United is currently working to provide additional aircraft where available and is accommodating customers on other flights and other airlines. Customers can check which aircraft they are scheduled to fly on at united.com.

About United

United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAUA - News) operates more than 3,300* flights a day on United, United Express and Ted to more than 200 U.S. domestic and international destinations from its hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C. With key global air rights in the Asia- Pacific region, Europe and Latin America, United is one of the largest international carriers based in the United States. United also is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides connections for our customers to 897 destinations in 160 countries worldwide. United's 55,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world. News releases and other information about United can be found at the company's Web site at united.com.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080402/aqw104.html?.v=39

[Montague S]

just checked their 777 departures out of NRT...all have substantial delays except the Asia flights.

[Shameel Kumar]

First some of their 747s.. now their 777s... are their 767s next?

Seems like UA's trying awfully hard to avoid a hefty fine like Southwest received from the FAA.

Well good on them though, at least they're rectifying the problem rather than brushing it under the rug.

[Mike Scott]

This was "the word" from our flight Ops management team.


Safety is our top priority, and we are committed to ensuring that we maintain our commitment to safety. For example, in the last two weeks, we’ve faced two different situations – involving the Airbus fleet and seven 747 aircraft – in which, when we were faced with safety-related questions, we moved quickly to inspect all the aircraft by the end of the flight day to ensure they were cleared to fly.

We know that there has been an ongoing dialogue in the domiciles around the safety, reliability and airworthiness of United Airlines' aircraft. In this and subsequent issues of Command Update, we will address this vitally important issue and answer any questions you might have.

We encourage you to bring any safety concern forward – to your domicile’s flight office, your chief pilot and his/her staff, or to ALPA’s Safety Committee. The Flight Safety Awareness Program (FSAP), which encourages pilot self-reporting to identify and correct safety (as well as security and operational) issues, has proven to be a powerful tool in increasing our safety performance.

United’s vigilance and safety record are second-to-none in the aviation industry in large part because of the singular focus, commitment and expertise of United’s pilots and the cooperative, constructive relationship we have with ALPA around this issue. We are United in safety.

Thank you.