United Airlines is currently unable to operate eight routes planned for this summer, three of which are to Europe, due to a lack of aircraft, because US authorities have not yet authorized the airline to return the Boeing 777-200s to the fleet.

Some United Boeing 777-200s lost parts of their engines over land last year. No one was injured, but authorities have grounded United's fleet of 52 Boeing 777-200s and 777-200ERs ever since. Due to the decreased demand due to corona, United had enough other widebodies available until the beginning of this year, but now that the pandemic is over and many people are flying again, United wants to scale up.

The Chicago company has to adjust those plans because of too few planes. The company has announced that it will not be able to operate planned routes from Washington Dulles to Dublin and Geneva and from Newark to Stockholm for the time being. Five other connections are also canceled: to Tokyo, Sao Paolo, Honolulu (from two airports) and Maui. The last two destinations are in Hawaii.

Most routes will initially be canceled for the month of June, but the connection to Stockholm will be closed for the entire season. United hopes to get the green light soon to be able to use the 777-200s, all of which have undergone major maintenance.

The issue that grounded the planes had to do with the Pratt and Whitney engines ... United is the only airline using them.

--- DB4 - 20220425
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)