ER
A UNITED Airlines flight between London and New York had to return to its point of origin shortly into the flight due to an onboard failure. The flight was performed by a Boeing 767 aircraft, which is often seen on United’s transatlantic routes.
On December 27, a United Airlines Boeing 767 aircraft flying between London Heathrow (LHR) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) had to turn back not too long into its journey.
The aircraft was performing flight UA 921 with a scheduled departure time of 18:00 and arrival of 21:35. According to Flightradar24, the 767 headed west after departing from London Heathrow and had reached an altitude of 20,000 feet when it was seen turning back somewhere between the UK and Ireland.
United Airlines has 37 Boeing 767-300ERs in its fleet, with an average age of almost 28 years. It also has 16 Boeing 767-400ERs with an average age of a little over 22 years. But the airline has a diverse fleet with several other airplane types.
Its other widebody planes include 19 Boeing 777-200s, 55 B777-200ERs, 22 B777-300ERs, 21 B787-10s, 12 B787-8s, and 38 B787-9s. It’s one of the few airlines globally to operate all three variants of the 787 Dreamliner.
Its narrowbody fleet comprises 81 Airbus A319s, 94 A320-200s, and two A321neos. But it’s the Boeing 737 type that forms the bulk of its single-aisle fleet. Per ch-aviation, United has 40 B737-700s, 76 B737-8 MAXs, 141 B737-800, 79 B737-9 MAXs, 12 B737-900, and 136 B737-900ERs.
It added several of its existing MAX planes in 2023, taking deliveries of 44 MAX 8s this year. The average age for the MAX 8 fleet is 1.9 years, as some aircraft were received before the COVID-19 pandemic. United has already taken 79 of 84 MAX 9s ordered and has 294 MAX 10s on order from Boeing.
The flight involved in the latest incident is one of many that United deploys to London. In fact, in December, the airline has almost 1,000 return flights to London from various cities in the US, per Cirium.
But London is one of many European destinations in United’s network. Earlier this year, the carrier expanded its offering for the summer season by adding six new European routes to Barcelona, Shannon, Rome, Berlin, Stockholm, and Malaga. [sources/photo special]
