A United Airlines Boeing 787 taxis as a United Airlines Boeing 767 lands at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco. (Reuters)
United Airlines may face a $435,000 fine after flying a Boeing 787 that might have been unsafe nearly two dozen times on domestic and international flights in 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.
The agency said United mechanics replaced a fuel pump pressure switch on the plane on June 9, 2014, after a flight crew noted a problem two days before, according to The New York Times.
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According to the agency, the airline did not perform a required inspection of the work before the plane flew again.
The plane made 23 domestic and international passenger flights before the inspection on June 28.
“Two of those flights allegedly occurred after the F.A.A. had notified United that it had not performed the inspection,” the FAA said.
The FAA proposed the $435,000 fine against United for “allegedly operating an aircraft that was not in airworthy condition.”
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United has reportedly asked for a meeting to discuss the allegation. Charles Hobart, a spokesman for the airline, did not elaborate on the FAA’s allegations, only saying that safety was a “top priority.”
The fine comes amid a rough patch of publicity for the legacy carrier after a series of incidents including the highly publicized dragging of a 69-year-old doctor who was forcibly removed from an aircraft after refusing to give up his seat to make room for a United crewmember in April.
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