United Airlines Suffers 10th Incident in Two Weeks

A United Airlines flight bound for Japan was held up for hours before take-off on Monday because of a problem with the plane's engine.

Flight UA35 was scheduled to depart San Francisco International Airport bound for Osaka at 12:05 p.m. But after taxiing on the runway for more than an hour, the Boeing 777-200 returned to the gate, and passengers and crew disembarked at around 1:45 p.m. Passenger Belinda Pitco told the San Francisco Chronicle that the pilot made an announcement explaining that "the right engine is not working."

The incident was at least the 10th of its kind involving the airline in the past two weeks and came on the same day that the CEO of the company, Scott Kirby, emailed customers to assure them the airline was safe following a slew of widely reported incidents, including a mid-flight engine fire and a wheel coming off during take-off.

"Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, our airline has experienced a number of incidents that are reminders of the importance of safety," he said. "While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus."

He added that the airline planned to review each incident to "inform" safety training and procedures.

Newsweek reached out to United Airlines by email seeking further information and comment on Tuesday and a spokesperson said: "While taxiing to the runway for departure, our crew on United flight 35 received an indication of an engine start issue yesterday afternoon. They returned to the gate and the flight departed at 4:56pm to Osaka."

There were 243 passengers and 14 crew members on board at the time, Newsweek understands.

Monday's affected flight returned to the gate where a maintenance team worked on the plane, according to local news channel NBC Bay Area, with the flight taking off almost five hours later than planned.

The airline has suffered nine other known incidents within the past two weeks:

• March 15: A United Airlines plane that flew from San Francisco to Oregon was found to be missing an external panel upon landing.
• March 14: A plane from Dallas-Fort Worth arrived at San Francisco with a hydraulic leak and a "small amount of smoke."
• March 11: A flight bound for San Francisco had to return to Sydney, Australia, because of a maintenance issue.
• March 9: A plane heading for Salt Lake City, Utah, was forced to return to Chicago O'Hare International Airport because of a maintenance problem.
• March 8: A flight from San Francisco to Mexico City was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles because of a hydraulics problem.
• March 8: A second incident the same day as the emergency landing in L.A. saw a United Airlines aircraft roll off a runway and became stuck in grass at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas.
• March 7: A plane heading to Japan from San Francisco lost a tire during take-off.
• March 4: A flight from Houston to Florida made an emergency landing after an engine fire.
• March 4: The same day as the engine fire, another United Airlines plane got into trouble when a San Francisco-bound flight from Honolulu experienced engine failure mid-flight, although it managed to land safely.

But the problems appear to date back to last year.

Just a few months ago, in December 2023, a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Norfolk, Virginia, was forced to declare an emergency and turn back when fuel began leaking from the plane.

In September 2023 the carrier's flights across the U.S. were grounded at the company's request because of an "equipment outage" and a "technology issue."

In July that year an emergency evacuation slide from a United Airlines plane plummeted from the sky and hit a house in a Chicago neighborhood. The home was slightly damaged, according to reports, but there were no injuries.

Despite such incidents affecting United Airlines, and other carriers, American air travel is statistically safer than traveling by car, according to government figures.

Author and pilot Patrick Smith told the Boston Globe last year: "Statistically, commercial air travel's never been safer. Major accidents today are few and far between, whereas in the old days, we'd see one or more every year. That's lost on people."

Update 3/19/24, 9:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from United Airlines.