How United’s historic aircraft order impacts the U.S. economy

The last 15 months have been the most disruptive period in our company’s history, and it’s forced us to adapt like never before. That spirit of innovation that positioned United as an industry leader in the crisis is fueling our plans for a future that’s brighter than ever for our customers, our employees and the communities we serve.  

Today we announced that United made a purchase agreement to order 270 brand new aircraft – the largest in our history and the largest by a single carrier in a decade – and when combined with our current orders, we’ll be adding 500 new airplanes to our fleet in the next few years. We’re also accelerating retrofits of our current narrow-body aircraft with the United signature interior to transform our customers’ onboard experience. But this announcement is about more than an aircraft purchase. I’m going to break down what it means both for our customers and the communities we call home. Aircraft orders, especially at this scale, directly fuel job creation, consumer spending, taxes and many other drivers of economic growth. 

Put simply, this is a huge win for United customers. In 2023, we’ll be adding a new plane to our fleet about every three days and we’re upgrading 100% of the rest of our mainline narrow-body fleet to match. That means that, within a few years’ time, each of our narrow-body planes will have consistent United signature interior features with the industry’s best technology: 

• Every seat will have seatback entertainment, power outlets and Bluetooth connectivity 
• Every passenger will have space for their carry-on bag in the larger overhead bins 
• Every plane will be equipped with the industry’s fastest available WiFi 
• We’ll offer more premium seats per North American departure than any other carrier 

Replacing smaller, older aircraft is also good news for our planet, because it means: 

• 11% expected improvement in fuel efficiency 
• 17-20% lower carbon emission per seat 

All these new planes will have a large – and positive – economic benefits for the communities we serve: 

• Approximately $30 million in annual traveler spending based on a study by the FAA 
• Increasing the annual ticket excise, fuel, property and payroll taxes we generate, which is currently about $4 billion 
• An expected $12 billion in annual wage impacts through airline, aviation and travel jobs directly and indirectly created by this order 

Speaking of jobs, this is the part of today’s news that I'm most excited about. We expect to create 25,000 jobs through 2026 because of this growth – totaling thousands of openings at each one of our seven domestic hubs. These are unionized jobs at United that are paid above the federal minimum wage and come with company-sponsored medical coverage, company-funded retirement programs, paid sick leave and vacation and flight benefits. In fact, at United, when we say that we’re creating jobs, the truth is that we’re really giving people access to a rewarding career. In the last seven years, 1,500 frontline United employees have been promoted to management roles and 69% of the senior leaders I work with every day came up through the ranks in jobs like these.  

We’ve laid out all the roles, the hardworking unions who represent them, their salary and benefit information and examples of our homegrown leaders within today’s press release. 

The news about today’s aircraft purchase is historic – not just because the number of airplanes we’re purchasing is large. This announcement about United’s future will have a profound, positive impact on our customers, our employees and communities across the country.