UAE: Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, issued an apology on Friday for leaving the New York region earlier this week on a private plane while the airline had thousands of passengers stranded as a result of numerous flight cancellations.

In a statement released by the airline, Kirby said, "Taking a private jet was the wrong choice because it was insensitive to our customers who were waiting to get home." "I sincerely apologise to our customers and team members who have been working nonstop for several days to take care of our customers, frequently through severe weather."
Kirby promised to "better demonstrate my respect for the commitment of our team members and the loyalty of our customers" in his closing statement.

On Wednesday, Kirby boarded a private flight from Teterboro, New Jersey, to Denver as United cancelled 750 flights, or one-fourth of its daily schedule. Flights on United Express are not included in that number.

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Nearly 3,000 flights have been cancelled by United this week, with the majority of them occurring at its Newark Liberty International Airport hub in New Jersey, which was plagued by thunderstorms for the majority of the week.

Kirby attributed the weekend's delays in Newark to a lack of Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers. In a memo to staff members, he claimed that the FAA had "honestly failed us" by limiting the speed at which planes could land and take off at the airport, where United is the dominant airline.

When bad weather hit on Sunday, cancelled flights put United's crews and aircraft out of position, crippling the airline, according to Kirby.

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The FAA is part of the Department of Transportation, which includes United. As United struggled throughout this week, Buttigieg noted on Twitter that most airlines had recovered from the storms "with the exception of United." By including a bar graph that contrasted United's cancellation rate with the rest of the industry, he furthered his argument.

Since midweek, United has improved its performance. According to tracking service FlightAware, the percentage of cancelled flights decreased from 26% on Wednesday to 18% on Thursday and 8% through Friday night. However, even on Friday, United was on track to top all US airlines for the seventh day in a row in terms of cancelled flights.

In order to prepare for the holiday weekend of July 4, which is expected to be busy at airports across the country, United promised to fix its operation. At Transportation Security Administration checkpoints, more than 2.7 million people were screened on Thursday. On Friday, similar — and possibly even larger — crowds were anticipated.

After flights were cancelled, United passengers vented on social media and in interviews with journalists about the long lines at the airport and sleeping there.

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Pilot and flight attendant unions for the airline have added their voices to the criticism, charging United management with poor scheduling, a lack of crew schedulers, and running too many flights.
United, based in Chicago, claimed that it was not responsible for the CEO's Wednesday flight. The airline chose not to comment on whether Kirby frequently flies in a private jet.