United Airlines boasts that it has overtaken competitors as the world’s largest carrier by fleet size after taking delivery of its 1,000th “mainline” jet. Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice-president of global network planning and alliances, touted the milestone delivery in a 12 February LinkedIn post. The Boeing 737 Max 9 registered as N77584 was delivered late last month. Quayle asserts that, with the delivery, United is the “first airline ever” to reach 1,000 mainline aircraft. “While we already hold the claim as the world’s largest airline by ASMs [available seat miles], we are now also the world’s largest airline by fleet size,” he says. All three of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United have claims on being the world’s largest airline by some measure. American’s fleet is larger than United’s when including regional jets, while Delta outpaces its rivals in annual revenue. <br/>
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A United flight departing from Chicago was forced to return to O'Hare Airport for an unexpected issue in the cockpit Wednesday, the airline said. According to United Airlines, Flight 1879, traveling from Chicago to Los Cabos, returned shortly after it departed "due to an issue with the cockpit windshield." "The flight landed safely and was met by emergency services as a precaution before it taxied to the gate, where passengers safely deplaned," the airline said in a statement. "We appreciate the quick action of our crew to keep our passengers and employees safe and we’ve arranged for a new aircraft to take customers to their destination." Details on what exactly the issue was with the windshield remained unclear. The airline said there was no evidence of a fire in the cockpit. A total of 156 passengers were onboard the flight at the time, along with six crew members.<br/>
Portugal's centre-right minority government wants to reach an agreement on a partial privatisation of national airline TAP with the main opposition Socialists, aiming to sell a minority stake of up to 49%, Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said on Wednesday. Although the government has always sought to sell 100% of Portugal's flag carrier, it does not have a majority of seats in parliament and cannot risk launching a process that could be undone by the opposition, he said. Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and British Airways owner IAG are among those to have expressed interest in TAP, but the Socialist Party (PS) wants the state to keep a controlling stake. "The government must be available to find solutions, negotiate ... because it is better to move forward than to leave everything as it is," Pinto Luz told a parliamentary committee. PS, parties to its left and even the far-right Chega have said they could block the sale of a controlling stake. A deal with PS would allow the government, which has said it wants to approve the sale process in the coming weeks, to get the backing of parliament. Pinto Luz said the idea was to preclude management interventions by the state, adding that the government was taking a "humble approach" and seeking to make the process as transparent and dialogue-based as possible. The sale of a minority stake would still be of interest to some of TAP's suitors.<br/>
Air India is holding off on exercising its outstanding options to buy additional Boeing jets until the planemaker has cleared its backlog, CEO Campbell Wilson told Reuters on Wednesday. "We don't want to commit to anything until we have confidence of when it's going to come. And likewise, they (Boeing) don't want to offer something until they have confidence of when it's going to come," Wilson said in an interview in London. The former state carrier is in the midst of a multi-billion-dollar revamp in the face of established competition, after Tata Group took it over more than two years ago. In 2023, Air India ordered 250 new jets from Airbus and 220 from Boeing to revive its appeal with an all-new fleet. The airline also signed options to buy an additional 70 planes from Boeing, including 50 737 MAXs and 20 787 Dreamliners. It topped that up with an order for an additional 85 Airbus jets in October. Air India previously struggled with years of limited investment under state ownership, prompting a dramatic restructuring plan. Boeing has a production cap of 38 jets a month, imposed by the U.S. FAA last year after a door blew out on an Alaska Airlines plane and scrutiny of Boeing's safety and manufacturing procedures increased. Wilson said Air India was in "constant contact" with the manufacturer, with its most recent check-in taking place last week.<br/>