United holds unscheduled maintenance checks

Late last week United Airlines ordered the grounding of 7 planes in its fleet. The Boeing 747 jets were called in for previously unscheduled maintenance test, though the Federal Aviation Administration says it did not order the airline to do so, and the airline says its decision was not related to the FAA’s announced check of all United States airlines’ maintenance records.

Ian Gregor of the FAA said the move was neither related to the recent Southwest fiasco about missed maintenance on planes. The maintenance tests were carried out and the planes were returned to service without any disruptions to the airlines’ flight schedule. The checks were said to have been done to check a piece of equipment in the altitude indicating system that was past its due date to be checked.

United’s unions have been caused stress at the airline’s Chicago base, angry that increasing work is being outsourced overseas or to their secondary hub in San Francisco. Teamster Leslie Miller points out that United’s service centre in Korea is using improper equipment.