North Korea has warned that if provoked, it will strike Guam with a nuclear missile. Despite a bellicose exchange of threats between North Korea and United States, United Airlines is conducting business as usual from its Pacific island hub.
United Airlines has a hub in Guam that it inherited from Continental Airlines who operated a Micronesia subdivision for several decades. That hub remains intact with service to neighbor islands, Hawaii, and several Asian cities.
It’s also 2,100 miles (3,400km) from North Korea, placing the U.S. territory within the target range of the North’s burgeoning nuclear weapons program.
A friend who works for United in Guam forwarded me the following note sent to local employees by United President Scott Kirby:
I know you’ve all seen the worldwide headlines this week regarding North Korea’s threat toward Guam.
Be assured, we are watching this situation closely and remain in constant touch with the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and other government partners. Based on our consultations, we will continue to operate a normal schedule at this time.
We recognize how troubling this situation is for many of our team members throughout the region and we will be prepared to quickly assist with any support if it becomes necessary.
The safety and welfare of our employees and customers is always our highest priority, and we will continue to share timely updates with you as this situation evolves.
Scott
With strong rhetoric coming from both the USA and North Korea, I can understand the fear amongst employees. I also understand Kirby’s promise “to quickly assist with any support if it becomes necessary” rings hollow if the DPRK preemptively strikes Guam.
What do you think? Should United suspend service to Guam (and Seoul) or would doing so constitute a fear-based, knee-jerk, counterproductive reaction to a non-credible threat?
I have a very strong opinion on this topic, but will refrain from sharing it, at least for now…
It’s a non-credible threat and a quasi-monopolistic cash cow for UA on US routes, unless you like hubbing through Japan or Korea. Probbaly plenty of military traffic as well since they re-upped the presence there a few years ago.
If we stop doing things out of fear, the terrorists have already won. North Korea has been all talk (so far), so there’s no need to overreact.
Remind me again what is the logic reason for laptop ban?
DL also has services to GUM (and I think also Saipan) plus a full JV hub at ICN that’s like 20 miles from DPRK.
But yes, pre-emptively cancelling for no solid reason is very counter productive. That just plays right into the hands of the crazy madman.
If United is to suspend flights to every destination that would be affected by a nuclear war they would have to suspend flights to ALL destinations…
@Matt… I’ve got Seoul trip coming up on Singapore air. F class. What would you do?
I was not aware anyone at all had asked this question in a public forum, so it’s strange to me you would pose the question.
Should all services to LHR have been halted after the recent London attacks? Or perhaps more appropriately should all air services have been halted from TXL during the Cold War? Or should we have closed all NY area airports indefinitely after 9/11?
I am happy and grateful that people are continuing to do their job and go to work despite an uncomfortable, perhaps dangerous situation. But it is not specifically bravery to do so, nor is it in any way an act of defiance for an airline to continue its normally advertised services. If geopolitical tensions dictated air service we would struggle to fly anywhere.
This is ridiculous. There is no credible threat of an imminent attack on Guam. If anything, UA service should be suspended to Japan. An attack on US military installations in Japan is possible. North Korea’s missile tests have already landed within Japanese terrotitorial waters and they didn’t suspend service then or issue statements. Life goes on and the US, UN, and other countries handle these situations that is why we have these organizations after all.
UA will stop the second its ins is pulled, till its pulled it will continue to fly. No different then it did in the past with TLV or any other potential destination where a war rattling was on going.
Stop feeding into the hysteria. The people of Guam aren’t even worried and last i heard its business as usual. The island is also heavily defended by the US Military and North Korea has not demonstrated they can shoot a missile accurately. Everyone always hears about those tests, what you dont hear about is how a lot of the launches fail or drop into the ocean before reaching their intended altitude.
I’m simply quoting the President of United Airlines…
Well…Im from the Marianas and this is concerning so I wouldn’t call it hysteria. Everything sounds absurd until it happens. According to NYTimes, some flights like HK Express have expressed concerns over these geopolitical tensions and have delayed flights until next summer. (Source: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/09/19/world/asia/ap-us-guam-delta-air-lines.html?mcubz=0)
Of course not… considering there are dozens of intl carriers flying over North Korean airspace (and physical land territory) on a daily basis.
It is a very interesting question. Personally I agree with the overwhelming majority in that they should not stop flights to Guam unless there is a real and credible threat, which there clearly is not. That said, if it is different from what has been said during this discussion, I’d really like to hear Matthew’s opinion.
From Guam, it is possible to get a connecting flight to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is also an American territory. I’ve been to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and I’d like to see the additional real estate which America owns, such as Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa). The USA owns other islands, namely Johnston, Howland, Kingman’s Reef, Wake Island, Midway, and Navassa. However, tourism is prohibited, as none of those islands are inhabited, with the exception of Wake Island and Midway. The latter two islands are populated only by a very small contingent of military and/or civilian government workers.