Let the mud throwing begin!
The head of the United pilots’ union (Steve Wallach) sent a letter to the head of the FAA last week, saying that safety conditions haven’t been as good in the past. The letter cites four engine failures on 737 aircraft in the past few weeks, which is more than usual. Of course, the airline is blaming management for these supposed issues.
It’s definitely bad if United is letting maintenance slide on the 737 since that plane will be eliminated from the fleet soon, but I’m doubtful. The unions blame management so often for problems that I become skeptical when I hear an allegation, especially in United’s case. The sick-outs from a short while back prove the relationship with management isn’t the best.
On a side note, this sounds somewhat similar to what some of the US Airways pilots did a couple of weeks ago.
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This could get ugly.
The drama continues: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/business/12air.html?ref=business
Many people (on Flyertalk and elsewhere) with interest in the industry and UA in particular feel similarly about GT (even if they aren’t union supporters). The common charge is that his only business plan was to merge UA with another carrier, and that his management team pretty much ignored the task of actually running the airline as a going concern.