United Airlines will not hire as many new employees as originally forecast, blaming the reduction on Boeing delivery delays. Even so, United still projects it will hire 10,000 new employees in 2024.
United Airlines Hiring Spree Damepned By Boeing Delivery Delays
Speaking to the media this morning, Kate Gebo, United’s Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Labor Relations, said United would hire closer to 10,000 employees this year versus the 13,000 – 15,000 originally forecast. She diplomatically blamed the delay on Boeing:
“Our hiring efforts are directly tied to the orders and the growth of our operation.”
United expects Boeing to deliver 25% fewer aircraft–66 in total–than originally forecast.
Even so, United has lifted its pilot hiring freeze. Earlier this year, facing delivery delays, it not only paused new pilot hiring but also offered pilots voluntary unpaid leave due to overstaffing.
Thus far United has hired about 4,000 new employees in 2024, including more than 800 pilots and more than 600 flight attendants (United ended 2023 with 16,000 new employees). Even with natural attrition, which Gebo pegged at 5-7% per year, United still plans to add to its net workforce. Roughly 60% of new hiring will be focused in four cities:
- 2,300 jobs in Chicago
- 1,500 jobs in Newark
- 1,300 jobs in San Francisco
- 900 jobs in Houston
All four cities are major hubs for United.
Gebo also shared that United has received 260,000 job applications this year (40,000 of those applications were for 300 internships).
CONCLUSION
United Airlines will slow its hiring in 2024 due to aircraft delivery delays, but still plans to end the year with 10,000 new hires. The pilot hiring freeze has been lifted, with new pilots once again joining the Mainline team.
image: United Airlines
The FTC/Justice Department need to step in and undo the Boeing/McDonnell-Douglas merger, penalize the former CEO’s and board members with fines, and have new CEO’s elected by both shareholders and employees for both companies.
Better yet, have Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman take over Boeing. Current C Suite is swept clean, engineers reassigned to run programs.
40000 applications for 300 internship positions is crazy.
Yup. How can you even attempt to stand out in such a crowd? Makes you wonder how exactly employees are being considered– not just at United but anywhere in the modern corporate world. It’s nuts.
If only UA would unembrace DEI.
They gave up on the “Best and Brightest” quality hires and went with the “Wokest and Diversity” agenda.
United has a world class staff from top to bottom.
English-speaking call center staff would be a bonus. He11, even English speaking staff to make the announcements over the PA – I’m sure they run a lottery at outstations to see who’s got the thickest foreign accent, to be assigned to announcements. The first announcement you hear when you land from an international flight in, say SFO is always … something unintelligible, I don’t know what it says