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United Airlines Faces Boeing 767 Shortage After Accidental Maintenance Scheduling

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United Airlines is currently grappling with a shortage of Boeing 767 aircraft after inadvertently sending too many of them to the maintenance shop simultaneously. With a fleet comprising 35 767-300ERs and 16 767-400ERs, totaling 51 aircraft, United relies on these models for transatlantic and domestic flights, as well as select routes to South America and Hawaii. (www.airguide.info) More...

Alan Winn
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godutch
godutch 7
Flew on a 30 Year old United 767-300 to Italy last October. All of the 300s are tired. 27 to 33 years old and WELL used. They need replacing.
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dwight666
D Chambers 7
Yes indeed. But with "Economy" class consisting of 2-3 seating, less of a "sardine" feeling. Compare and 787 with 3-3-3.
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njsullyalex
Alex Sullivnan 1
I've been on a United 767-300 once. N642UA, which is actually the 2nd oldest plane in the entire United fleet, in August 2021. Its the first and only time I've flown Polaris 1st class and it was fantastic. The plane was very clean inside and it was a smooth ride. Hard to believe that aircraft is older than some MD-80s I've been on.
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thenotoriousrob
rob strong 1
Delta is better, but still flying 25-30 year old planes as well. Frontier, Spirit, Volaris... all new.
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ewrcap
David Beattie 10
I’ll take an ok UA plane over a brand spanking new Frontier or Spirit aircraft any day.
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jonduncan
Jon Duncan 5
American Airlines has no 767's in operation.
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awinn
Alan Winn 1
we updated and corrected other errors last week Jon, thanks for the feedback!
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Propwash122
Peter Fuller 5
Article dated June 15 says “United IS currently grappling with a shortage of Boeing 767 aircraft….” Further on a lot of statements in the past tense: “United Airlines DISPATCHED 17 of its 767-300ERs to the shop in October…” and “six 767-400ERs WERE also sent for similar work…” and “23 Boeing 767s WERE out of commission simultaneously…” etc.

So is this shortage of 767s happening right now, or is it in the rear view mirror? Not a stellar piece of journalism.
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sparkie624
sparkie624 9
Being an Airline Maintenance Planner myself as well as being a Mechanic... that is a pretty big blunder... Someone has some 'Splain'n to do as Ricky would say.
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dwight666
D Chambers 2
Might not have been so bad, had they done it in the winter?
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ColinSeftel
Colin Seftel 4
"...no direct replacement for the 767 currently exists in the market." Really? Not even the 787-8 or A330-200?
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ghstark
Greg S 2
They might be talking about type rating plus size more than anything. You can replace the 767 with a 787 but it's very likely the 767 pilots can't fly them.
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williamminerich
William Minerich 2
Sure they can’t. They just need about 10 weeks of training.
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snow
James Cox 2
Yeah isn't the 787 the same size as a 767?
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dwight666
D Chambers 3
Not really. Economy is 2-3-2 usually on a 767. 787 is usually 3-3-3
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ewrcap
David Beattie 2
Pretty close but the three sizes of 787, -8/9/10 all carry more pax than the 767 200/300/400 and have much greater range and are at least 20% cheaper to operate. United has ordered hundreds of the 787. Boeing can’t deliver them fast enough. Airbus has the same problem.
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thenotoriousrob
rob strong 2
In United's mind, a 737Max is a suitable replacement. Even a 175 with multiple stops.
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DonDengler
DonDengler 2
This was no “forget to schedule “. More written propaganda on the internet.
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dee9bee
dee9bee 2
The pic attached to the article is chilling...Can you say impending tailstrike?? Jon, you're right. I probably flew all of AA's 763s (and some -200s) over the years. You just don't fly a heavy 767 like a 757.
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godutch
godutch 4
Yeah...optical illusion.
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joekirbyjr
Carlen Kirby 3
Look more closely… the aircraft is in correct climb out configuration. The tail is at least 10’ above the runway. I’m thinking the angle of attack is deceiving due to the position of the camera.
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ScottCurtis777
ScottCurtis777 2
You're right; I had to look twice. The runway is barely visible in the bottom of the photo. What "appears" to be the runway in the photo is most likely a parallel taxiway.
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loubearr
loubearr 1
Do I see a scheduler out of a job?
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LeanderWilliams
Leander Williams 1
How can an airline as large as United have Accidental Maintenance Scheduling? Sounds more like an internal communications issue. The VP of Maintenance should have rules in effect that dictate the number of aircraft of each type that can be out of service for maintenance, with emergencies excepted. If it's that much of any issues bring some of the planes out of the boneyard to fill the gaps.
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mutrock
Mark Kortum 1
Either it needs maintenance, or it does not. Something fishy about this story.
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thenotoriousrob
rob strong 1
Aren't they always doing something to screw their customers. Recent mileage devaluation by 30%. And still flying 24-30 year old airbus A320s internationally. Awful.
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flybd5juan
Juan Jimenez 0
LMAO! Waaaaaay back in 1999 I managed a team that produced a recurring maintenance scheduling tool for American Eagle, which turned out so good (a Russian team in-house led by a US architect) that American Airlines adopted it. You mean to tell me UA still doesn't have anything like that? That's HILARIOUS!
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btweston
btweston 4
Huh.
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vji46
mickey hines 1
what?
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thenotoriousrob
rob strong -2
Aren't they always doing something to screw their customers? Recent mileage devaluation by 30%. And still flying 24-30 year old airbus A320s internationally. Their 767s need to be retired, just as old. And now I'm flying on some 20 year old 777s. They're milking these dinosaurs for all they're worth.
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dwight666
D Chambers 2
Yah, the 777 came into service in 1995. Kinda hard to believe that the 787 was rolled out in 2009 (I'm getting old). Thankfully, I only fly First Class and the lie-flat seating/suites on the 787/777 are all the same. 1-2-1 configuaration in those huge configurations -- Hoo Rah!!
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