United’s New CEO Acknowledges Airline’s Failures

United and Continental merged to form one of the largest carrier of the world about five years ago.

United Airlines has admitted in a public letter that it has failed to live up to the expectations of both passengers and employees.

Munoz has called a summit of United’s union leaders for October 15 and has made a point since taking the job of listening to customers and meeting with workers to hear their feedback on the airline.

The CEO, who took over last month following the resignation of Jeff Smisek, said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that he would focus on fixing the company’s employee relations, poor on-time performance and improving customer service.

Last September, announced that Smisek was ousted amidst a federal investigation probing the link of the airline to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ), operators of Newark Liberty worldwide Airport. “While it’s been improving recently, we still haven’t lived up to our promise or our potential”.

“Let’s be honest, the implementation of the United and Continental merger has been rocky for customers and employees”, Munoz says on a video greeting on the site.

When he was initially hired, Munoz sent out an email to frequent fliers saying that the airline “can do better”. The message, posted on unitednegotiations.com, said the company offered significant pay increases, but a deal that the Teamsters reached Wednesday with American Airlines Group Inc “reset the market”.

“We are committed to re-earning your trust”, he wrote.

Munoz noted that flight attendants who worked for United or Continental prior to the merger had different contracts, meaning that they could not be assigned to the same flights.