United to Slow Pilot Hiring, Blames Boeing Delivery Delays

The airline expects to receive 21 fewer 737 Max aircraft this year than its original forecast. Manufacturing delays continue to plague Boeing following January’s door plug incident on an Alaska 737 Max 9.

In 2024, United had also expected to receive 80 737 Max 10 aircraft from Boeing, but certification timelines continue to slip. The carrier recently removed the largest variant of the 737 Max from its fleet plan.

“We wanted to let you know that United will slow the pace of pilot hires this year due to continued new aircraft certification and manufacturing delays at Boeing,” said United’s Marc Champion, vice president of flight operations, and Kirk Limacher, vice president of flight ops planning and development, in an internal memo viewed by CNBC.

The memo continued to say that the airline expects to resume new hire classes in July.

According to data from FAPA.aero, United hired 2,349 pilots in 2023, the second most of any major U.S. carrier. Across the board, pilot hiring at major U.S. airlines was down roughly 6 percent between 2022 and 2023.

So far this year, the airline said it hired 450 pilots with plans for up to 800 by the end of April.

“As you know, United has hundreds of new planes on order and while we remain on a path to be the fastest growing airline in the industry, we just won’t grow as fast as we thought we would in 2024 due to continued delays at Boeing,” Champion and Limacher said in the Thursday memo.

United isn’t the only U.S. carrier to slow pilot hiring this year. Delta announced it would be slashing its hiring plans in half in 2024.

Last week, Southwest Airlines said it would stop pilot hiring through the end of this year. Ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines stopped hiring pilots in late 2023.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.