The broken starboard engine of United Airways flight 328, a Boeing 777-200, is seen following a Feb. 20 engine failure incident, in a hangar at Denver Worldwide Airport in Denver, Colorado, U.S. February 22, 2021.
Nationwide Transportation Security Board | through Reuters
United Airlines does not anticipate to fly dozens of Boeing 777 jets, grounded greater than a yr in the past after one suffered an engine failure, till at the least mid-Might. The airline had most just lately deliberate for at the least a number of the planes to return to service this month.
The additional delay within the planes’ return is a problem for United because it seeks to fly as many vacationers as doable throughout what airline executives anticipate to be a bustling spring journey season, together with a resurgence worldwide journey. The jets are among the many largest in United’s fleet.
“Because of the delay within the return of our PW777 plane to energetic service, the Might flight schedule is being reconfigured to account for the dearth of those plane,” United stated in a observe despatched to pilots on Friday and considered by CNBC.
In February 2021, one in all United’s 777-200s certain for Honolulu from Denver suffered an engine failure, dropping particles in a residential space earlier than returning to Denver’s predominant airport. No accidents have been reported.
United has 52 Boeing 777s powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines. They’re “being faraway from the schedule by means of Might 12 and faraway from worldwide/Hawaii routes by means of Might 25,” United stated within the observe.
The Federal Aviation Administration final month issued security directives to extend inspections of fan blades on these engines. These directives go into impact April 15.
“We proceed to work rigorously with Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and the FAA to securely return these plane to service quickly, and our present plan will permit them to return within the second half of Might,” United stated in an announcement.
Boeing and Raytheon Technologies, dad or mum firm of Pratt & Whitney, did not instantly remark.
