United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has blamed bad weather, reduced Federal Aviation Administration staffing, and the closure of Canadian airspace for United’s recent operational woes. Now he is adding climate change (which causes thunderstorms)to the list of reasons for why your next United flight might be delayed.
United CEO Kirby Says More Flight Delays Will Be Triggered By Climate Change
Speaking to Politico, Kirby said:
“I think irregular operations events are going to be more likely to occur as the climate warms. More heat in the atmosphere: thermodynamics 101. We’re going to have more thunderstorms.”
Thunderstorms cripple operations because ground staff are not allowed outside due to potential lightning strikes.
“There’s not much you can do with the thunderstorms. You’re going to cancel a lot of flights when a thunderstorm happens. If you can’t depart the airport, you can’t depart the airport. That’s not going to change. But what you can focus on is the recovery and making sure you divert those 100 airplanes, you know where everyone is, you have a better way to contact everyone.”
Wherever the blame lies, Kirby realizes that United will have to cut back its schedules at Newark Liberty International Airport:
“We have to be more conservative in scheduling in Newark. Newark has more flights scheduled than the physical infrastructure can handle. We’ve simply passed the infrastructure. And that’s particularly true in a world in which the FAA is still working back to 100% staffing.”
United is unlikely to reduce summer schedules in advance for the remainder of summer when so many flights are full, so expect last-minute cancellations this summer followed by a more conservative schedule moving forward.
Returning to climate change, Kirby also took the opportunity to criticize the purchase of carbon offsets, which the claims most are “frankly are fraud.”
“They are either forests that were never going to be cut down or trees that were going to be planted anyway.”
He also noted that tax credits on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) had made this technology much more palatable, though it remains “uneconomic and expensive.”
CONCLUSION
Kirby is correct that increased thunderstorms will deliver a crippling blow to operations. He’s also right that the changing climate is likely to lead to more such storms. But the key now is to plan for those in advance such that when they occur, United is not left as the only airline unable to bounce back operationally (as was true the week before last). Resiliency does not mean keeping dozens of airplanes on the ground and crews waiting idly, but deftly handling bottlenecks by reducing schedules in the first place, particularly in Newark which is already stretched beyond capacity.
LOL
Kirby pledged to double his private flying in solidarity with the forests.
I’ve decided to use this tactic in my business. Everything, and I mean everything, that goes wrong has outside blame. He must be a joy to live with. I am starting to think he is the father yelling at coaches and officials at his kids sporting events, blaming them for why his kids are mediocre in their playing.
You said it. He must be fun at parties.
@ Stuart
I’m sure you are joking because no leader would model themselves on a fool. Kirby’s outlook, forever, has been so transparent only a guy would have believed the nonsense.
Women (even teenagers) would have picked up on this, All the best because we rule.
You can’t lodge a climate change complaint a week after eschewing a nonstop on your airline for a private jet. Kirby may want to take a media break for a month or so.
United should probably stop flying airplanes since those are bad for the environment too.
@Matthew has drank the kool-aid. “… changing climate is likely to lead to more such storms”. Please provide the evidence.
If only I could have used climate change for not turning in my homework…….
Those that slept through school are going to have a field day with this one
Flies private. Crams everything through craphole EWR.
I was on his side when he blamed the FAA but he just lost me. The dude is a knob and has no business running anything more complex than a 7-11 in a bad neighborhood.
The issue for me isn’t Kirby using climate change as a reason for the delays, it’s the fact that he is only saying it now. Why didn’t he say it earlier? He seems to going through a list of excuses whenever he can think of one.
Kirby has made Greta look smart. What a moron!!!
Props to Kirby for consistency on blaming absolutely everything on anyone or anything but himself. OTOH that’s not really something to be proud of being consistent about. Dude needs to man up and accept blame for the plethora of situations where he’s blatantly at fault, like here.
As someone who grew up in the Southeast (where summer storms were always common) but now lives in the Northeast (where there has been a clear increase in summer “cell” and “pop-up” summer storms over the past 10 years or so), Kirby is clearly right
No one is saying he’s wrong. Climate change will create issues for airlines. However, other airlines have adapted technology and schedules to better compensate. Kirby on the other hand just keeps cramming more flights into EWR and SFO, two of the worst operational airports in the country, and spitballing it. Only after it crashes down then blaming it on what everyone knew long before, including him. It’s like a guy who wears shorts and a T-Shirt in winter in Minnesota and freezes to death and says his final words, “I blame it on the cold.”
Not to mention that he’s a CEO of an airline and flies on a private jet while talking about climate change.
If it weren’t for global warming the Laurentide ice sheet wouldn’t have melted and EWR wouldn’t exist.
Blame anything, any body, but never self reflect. It is a horrible management trait he well exercised at AAL, i had dearly hoped he would grow out of this narcissistic behavior, but alas, not at all. He should STFU and do what he was hired to do.
It should be clear that Scott Kirby will blame everyone except himself for the operational mess that is United at Newark this summer.
United has asked the FAA repeatedly to impose UA-specific groundstops for EWR because of ramp congestion and the inability to move planes around to the number of available international gates, blocking taxiways and gumming up UA’s entire afternoon and evening EWR operation.
They are regularly cancelling more of their own mainline flights at the beginning of the day than any other airline and are also increasing the amount of Republic cancellations at Newark.
They know they have overscheduled EWR this summer but are blaming everyone else.
Tim.. very well said.
How does Scott Kirby explain the never ending airport operational issues esp. at Newark. Constant technical and maintenance delays with aircraft. Also, at Newark they routinely schedule international departures with aircraft turns at an hour. That NEVER happens.
Climate sometimes yes but there are many operational issues that need addressing before heading down that climate path.
I’m just going to quote my favorite Army Colonel.
MULEFRITTERS!!!!
Aaah Scotty, blaming anyone/everything other than himself and his management team. Perhaps he’s never served military time and not aware of the “7P’S” … Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss Poor Performance (the 7Ps). . It takes a strong confident leader to admit fault and accept it and then to rectify it in future behaviors. Sadly, those leaders are far and few between.
Is that the good ole John Kerry and Greta Thunberg excuse, certainly fits in with the insane opinions they peddle.