Initially started as Varney Air Lines in 1926, founded by Walter T. Varney, which later became United Airlines, has come a long way, taking a gigantic leap in its services and technologies.
After almost a century in the air service, United Airlines has become one of the most decorated and cherished airline service providers with its adapting approaches to innovation and technology for the optimum satisfaction of its passengers. The airlines always looking for rooms to improve, emphasizing the quality and fun travel has always found a way to make the passenger’s journey fun and stress-free, maintaining its top ranking.
Read More: What are Delta Airlines future plans?
So in a post-pandemic world, after the aviation and travel industry took a huge blow, what kind of plans United Airlines has in store for its passengers?
The largest order of Airplanes in Its History
In June 2021, United Airlines announced that it would be placing the largest order for planes in its history; the airline is ordering 270 single-aisle aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. The 270 aircraft purchase plan of United Airlines is the biggest purchase in the USA that hasn’t happened in a decade. With the pandemic receding and travel restrictions loosened or lifted worldwide, the airline believes that travelers will spend quality and premium service in a post-pandemic world.
United plans to increase the size of the fleets as part of the company’s expansion process; their strategy has been taken as the strongest signal that indicates the restrains on pandemic has improved and the time for the revival of the industry has begun.
After almost years of restriction and lockdown, the increase in air travel demand is set to skyrocket, and United Airlines plans to meet those demands and offer quality timely services with its massive and re-established fleet.
Massive Job Opportunity
The United’s move to add further 270 aircraft to its fleet has opened up a massive job opportunity in the aviation sector. This big plan of airlines would be creating about 25,000 jobs a year in a bet on the booming of domestic travel and premium services, on a pursuit of recovering the industry after pandemic catastrophes. United plans to hire 5,000 employees from Newark and 4,000 from San Francisco alone in its expansion plan.
The main reason why this decision has indicated the strong revival of the aviation industry is due to Delta’s positive attitude towards the mending travel industry. Just a year ago, the airlines had been preparing to furlough 14,000 employees when the second round of federal aid was about to expire. The company with over 90,000 employees had to take some drastic measures to downsize its employees as the airlines faced a $2 billion loss in the first quarter only following the economic crisis due to pandemics.
Premium Services
The 270 plane order consists of 200 Boeing 737MAX and 70 of the Airbus 321neo worth approximately $30 billion. United is looking forward to replacing the older smaller jetliners in their fleet with these orders between 2022 and 2026.
United replacing older aircraft with the bigger variants of Boeing and Airbus will carry more passengers on the domestic routes enabling the airlines to sell more premium seats. The bigger planes with comforting seats and more amenities are expected to make United Airlines even more competitive in the market.
The executive of airlines revealed how they would be able to offer various packages with the big aircraft on first-class/ economy-plus or extra-legroom coach segments. The bigger spacious interior designs on these planes will also offer larger overhead bins to fit every passenger’s carry-on bag.
The comeback of Backseat In-Flight Entertainment
United previously didn’t prioritize the in-flight entertainment system like Delta Airlines. However, currently, the airline plans to bring back the entertainment system they had previously moved away from. This will add more competitive benefits for United Airlines as Delta provided 18″ high-resolution screens with movies, music, and games absolutely free for both economy-class and business class cabins.
The executives had argued on passengers’ preference using their own personal electronic device over opting for the backseat entertainment kit to stream movies.
The Chief Executive Officer of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, had decided to take the IFE units from the older planes in their fleet and also taking-in new narrow-bodied aircraft without the entertainment units. So, the entertainment options were pretty much limited and not diverse like its biggest rival, Delta Airlines, which provides IFE units to all-class passengers.
