J. Scott Kirby, Chief Executive Officer, today issued the following message to nearly 100,000 United Airlines employees:

Hello everybody.

In my message to you last week, I talked about doing everything in my power as CEO to make sure we are in a position to bounce back more quickly than any of our competitors once the virus is defeated and demand begins to recover.

That means we have to continue to plan for the worst. But at the same time, we also have to be prepared for the best. After all, the one thing I am absolutely confident in is that our customers want to fly again and reconnect with people and places around the world. And part of preparing for the best means thinking about the short-term adjustments that we have to make to get through the crisis as well as the long-term structural changes that will allow us to thrive once again.

So today, I am asking Greg Hart to take the lead on those big picture issues. During my tenure here at United, Greg has been the rock that I could always count on as our Chief Operations Officer (COO). Despite having hubs in the most difficult weather/ATC markets of any airline anywhere in the world, we moved to the top of the industry in all of the operational metrics. We also invested in the customer experience and have been making the largest, recent improvements in Customer Satisfaction of any airline in the country.

But being the COO of United is a tough, 24×7 job. Greg told me last year that he wanted to start preparing for retirement but he agreed to spend the next 12-18 months grooming his successors. And while none of us could have anticipated the COVID-19 crisis, it accelerates a need for leadership in new areas.

Specifically, I’m asking Greg to step back from his role as COO and instead focus on critical medium and long term issues – in particular, setting the stage for United to be the world leader in innovation with respect to safety, hygiene, and operating efficiency. Additionally, I’ll be relying on him to continue his work on one of our most important objectives – developing strategies to allow flexibility in our cost structure, including labor costs. Our costs are not designed for the near-term uncertainty of travel demand. Demand could be down 30% or it could be down 70%. The way to best survive this crisis is to be able to nimbly adjust the size of the airline, including labor costs, to meet demand and importantly, be ready to bounce back quickly when the virus is defeated. We believe we are working on ideas that no other airline in the world is considering. Greg is uniquely qualified to be a leader not just for United, but in world-wide aviation, taking us all to the next level on these issues that are so critical to our future.

And so that means that it’s time for other members of Greg’s team to step up, in a way that is consistent with our succession planning, to help run the operation while Greg focuses on more broad, fundamental, structural changes to our business.

Jon Roitman, currently our Senior Vice President of Airport and Network Operations, will step into the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer effective June 1. Jon is the embodiment of our core4 culture and no one has a better sense of the inner-workings of our operation. We’ve made some tough choices as an organization and even tougher decisions may come in the near-term, so it’s more critical than ever that we have a leader of Jon’s caliber waking up every day thinking solely about how we stay a step ahead of this virus and its impact on our operation. In addition to his current responsibilities, Jon will expand his role to include Flight Operations, Technical Operations and Safety. I am confident that Jon will rise to this challenge.

As part of these moves, Sarah Murphy, Senior Vice President of United Express, and Jan Krems, Vice President of Cargo, will move into Andrew Nocella’s organization and Toby Enqvist, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, will report to Brett Hart.

There are tough times ahead. But there are also glimmers of hope – our schedule is expected to be down 75 percent in July, a slight improvement over May and June. While we can’t quite see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, it’s not pitch black in here anymore.

But there is more work to be done and I’m confident that today’s leadership changes will put United in an even better position to drive our near-term, operational goals, while at the same time create an environment where we can fly past our competitors when demand returns.

Thank you for all you do every day to take care of our customers and one another.

Stay safe and we’ll talk soon,

Scott
Scott Kirby, CEO

United Airlines is introducing United CleanPlus: the company’s commitment to putting health and safety at the forefront of the entire customer experience, with the goal of delivering an industry-leading standard of cleanliness. United CleanPlus brings together a most trusted brand in surface disinfection – Clorox – and the country’s top medical experts – Cleveland Clinic – to inform and guide United’s new cleaning, safety and social distancing protocols that includes touchless kiosks in select locations for baggage check-in, sneeze guards, mandatory face coverings for crew and customers, and giving customers options when flights are more full. Specifically, Clorox products will be used at United’s hub airports and medical experts from the Cleveland Clinic will advise on new technologies, training development and quality assurance programming.

By establishing collaborations with world-renowned leaders in surface disinfection and health like Clorox and Cleveland Clinic, United customers can travel with more confidence knowing that the airline’s protocols have been informed by trusted experts.

“Safety has always been our top priority, and right now in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, it’s our singular customer focus,” said United CEO, Scott Kirby, in a video message to customers today. “We recognize that COVID-19 has brought cleanliness and hygiene standards to the front of customers’ minds when making travel decisions, and we’re not leaving a single stone unturned in our pursuit to better protect our customers and employees.”

Clorox is working closely with United to enhance the airline’s cleaning program, redefine disinfection procedures and equip customers with amenities at select locations that help support a healthier and safer environment throughout their travel journey. Clorox products will first roll out at United’s hub airports in Chicago and Denver and will be used in the gate and terminal areas, with additional locations to follow.

“We’re proud Clorox will play a role in United CleanPlus to enhance people’s safety when they travel,” said Benno Dorer, chair and CEO, The Clorox Company. “Connecting the world more safely, when possible, is an important part of our recovery as a society. Together we are helping people when they travel for work or pleasure. We look forward to working with United to explore more ways to help keep their customers healthy during their travel experience.”

The United CleanPlus commitment goes far beyond disinfection. United consulted with experts at Cleveland Clinic to provide guidance on the airline’s policies and procedures – from mandatory face coverings, to touchless kiosks in select locations for baggage check-in, to social distancing – and ensure they meet or exceed industry standards. Medical experts from the Cleveland Clinic will also advise on new technologies, training development and quality assurance programming. And, as scientists learn more about how to fight COVID-19, Cleveland Clinic experts will help United use those discoveries to quickly implement new ways to keep customers safe.

“As the public begins to adjust to a world that’s been altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, health and safety is of the utmost importance,” said Tomislav Mihaljevic, M.D., Cleveland Clinic CEO and President. “We are proud to be part of this program and to share the knowledge we’ve gained as we’ve worked to contain and understand COVID-19 over the past several months. It’s important for everyone to take precautions as we enter this new phase of COVID-19 response, and Cleveland Clinic is pleased to play a role in helping people travel safely.”

The United CleanPlus commitment to customers is already happening throughout the travel journey across the United network in a number of ways. To date, United has implemented more than a dozen new policies and procedures aligned with United CleanPlus that are designed with health and safety in mind, including:

In Airport Lobbies:

• Reducing touchpoints by temporarily shutting down self-service kiosks and beginning to roll out, in select locations, touchless kiosks that allow customers to print bag tags using their own device to scan a QR code.
• Actively promoting social distancing with enhanced signage, including a 6 ft. rule at the ticket counters which allows for minimal contact between agents and customers.
• Deploying sneeze guards at key interaction points, including at our check-in counters.

At the Gate:

• Boarding fewer customers at a time to allow for more distance during the boarding process, minimizing crowding at the gate and jet bridge.
• Asking our customers to self-scan their boarding passes at our gate readers.
• Equipping our employees with disinfecting products available so they can disinfect high-touch areas including armrests and handrails.

In the United Clubs:

• Protective sneeze guards installed at our credentialing desks and customer services minimizing contact between our guests and team members
• Enhanced team member safety and well-being by requiring the use of personal protective equipment
• Increased the frequency of cleaning our high-touch surfaces and equipping our team members with disinfectant cleaning products
• Removed seating at the bar area to actively promote physical distancing
• Pre-packaged food and beverages are only available at the bar area to reduce customer touch points

Onboard Aircraft:

• Beginning May 22, United will introduce an “all in one” economy snack bag that replaces the economy beverage and complimentary snack choice service on domestic flights scheduled 2 hours and 20 minutes or more. This bag will include a wrapped sanitizer wipe, an 8.5 oz. bottled water, a Stroopwafel and a package of pretzels
• Enhancing cabin sanitization including electrostatic spraying, which will happen before every flight starting this June.
• Requiring all employees and customers on board to wear a mask or face covering, helping protect each other.
• Supplying individually wrapped hand sanitizer wipes to customers as they board.
• Limiting advance seat selections where possible and allowing customers to take alternative flights when we expect a flight to operate over 70% capacity.

Behind the Scenes:

• Implementing employee temperature checks before the start of their workday, better safeguarding their health as well as their teammates’ and customers’.
• Employees are producing hand sanitizer that is being used throughout the airline.

United Airlines (UAL) has announced first quarter 2020 financial results with a net loss of $1.7 billion, and an adjusted net loss¹ of $639 million. The company also outlined U.S. airline industry-leading efforts to manage through the most disruptive global crisis in the history of aviation. The company’s total liquidity as of the close of business on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 was approximately $9.6 billion, including $2 billion under its undrawn revolving credit facility. The company currently expects daily cash burn² to average between $40 million and $45 million during the second quarter of 2020.

“Throughout the COVID-19 crisis we have maintained our focus – first on the safety of our customers and our people and second on swiftly taking action to keep United operating. We have been at the forefront of warning how deep of an impact we expect this crisis could have and how long we expect it could last. We’ve also led the industry in taking decisive steps to mitigate the operational and financial impacts of COVID-19 — making deep schedule reductions, drastically reducing spending and aggressively raising liquidity,” said Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Munoz. “While we are still in the midst of this crisis, we will not hesitate to make difficult decisions we believe will ensure the long term success of our company.  When demand returns, we believe we’ll be positioned to bounce back strongly and quickly because of our early and aggressive efforts to fight the worst financial crisis in aviation history.”

COVID-19 Actions

The company took early and aggressive action intended to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 to position the company to bounce back quickly and make United stronger when demand returns.

• First U.S. airline to make aggressive capacity reductions.
• Suspended share repurchase program on Feb. 24, 2020, after spread of COVID-19 to Italy and terminated the program on April 24, 2020.
• First U.S. airline to actively raise additional liquidity to manage the crisis. Since early March, the company raised $4.0 billion of new liquidity in three secured term loan facilities, new aircraft financings and an equity offering (excludes CARES Act Payroll Support Program funding and any Loan Program loans) as of the close of business April 29, 2020.
• The company entered into an agreement with a subsidiary of BOC Aviation Limited for lease financing of six Boeing 787-9 and 16 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft that are currently subject to purchase agreements between United and The Boeing Company and are scheduled to deliver in 2020, including two Boeing 787-9 aircraft that were delivered in April.
• First U.S. airline to announce chief executive officer and president forgoing 100% of respective base salaries.
• First U.S. airline to announce all other officers of the company will take salary reductions, with every officer base salary reduced by 50%.
• Suspended merit salary increases for management and administrative employees and instituted a hiring freeze.
• Offered voluntary unpaid leaves of absence for U.S.-based employees — with more than 20,000 employees now participating.
• Non-employee directors of the company waived 100% of cash compensation for the second and third quarters of 2020.
• First major U.S. airline to require all flight attendants to wear masks on duty.
• Postponed projects deemed non-critical to operation.
• Slashed spending on vendors and outside contractors.
• Reduced planned full-year adjusted capital expenditures by approximately $2.5 billion, bringing expected full-year adjusted capital expenditures to below $4.5 billion.³
• Plan to only take delivery of aircraft that have financing in place.

Government Support

• United has entered into an agreement to receive approximately $5.0 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department through the Payroll Support Program under the CARES Act in the form of a $3.5 billiongrant and a $1.5 billion 10-year loan which will be used to protect the salaries and benefits of employees through Sept. 30, 2020. In connection with this funding, UAL will issue warrants to purchase approximately 4.6 million shares of UAL common stock to the federal government. The first installment of approximately $2.5 billion was received by United on April 21, 2020 and warrants to purchase approximately 2.3 million shares of UAL common stock were issued.
• The company submitted an application to the Loan Program under the CARES Act. Under the Loan Program, the company expects to have the ability through Sept. 30, 2020 to borrow up to approximately $4.5 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department for a term of up to five years, with any loans issued expected to be senior secured obligations of the company. If the company borrows any amounts under the Loan Program, UAL expects to issue to the U.S. Treasury Department warrants to purchase shares of UAL common stock, with the number of warrants dependent on total borrowings.

First Quarter Results

• Reported first quarter net loss of $1.7 billion, diluted loss per share of $6.86, and pre-tax loss of $2.1 billion.
• Reported first quarter adjusted net loss of $639 million, adjusted diluted loss per share of $2.57, and adjusted pre-tax loss of $1.0 billion.¹

Additional COVID-19 Actions

Employees

• Committed to no involuntary furloughs or reduced pay rates in the U.S. through Sept. 30, 2020.
• Diligently enacting safety and social distancing measures designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the workplace is clean and safe.
• Utilizing temperature checks for airport employees and Flight Attendants prior to beginning work.
• Simplified catering on flights to all shelf-stable and packaged food, and sealed and canned beverages; suspended buy on board.
• Adjusted flight attendant jump seat locations so crew members don’t have to sit directly next to or across from each other.
• Granting additional paid days off for front line employees at several airports to limit their potential exposure to COVID-19.
• Covering all testing costs associated with COVID-19 for anyone enrolled in a United medical plan, reduced copays for telemedicine visits.

Customers

• Waiving change fees for tickets purchased through May 31, 2020 for twelve months and waiving redeposit fees for MileagePlus award travel scheduled through May 31, 2020.
• Extended MileagePlus Premier status to 2022.
• Utilizing electrostatic spraying to disinfect aircraft interiors, and expect to spray every operated flight by mid-June.
• In May, start testing touchless kiosks for printing bag tags and checking bags, eliminating the need to touch the screen.
• Made several modifications to the boarding process, including: customers scanning their own tickets prior to boarding, boarding fewer customers at a time and boarding from back to front.
• Continue to provide the only commercial air service between Australia and the United States and Israel and the United States.
• Enacting social distancing on flights for flight attendants and customers, including blocking middle seats.

Community

• Since March 19, United Cargo has operated more than 800 cargo-only flights worldwide, bringing more than 28 million pounds of food and supplies to destinations worldwide.
• Operated more than 130 repatriation flights bringing more than 18,500 Americans home who were stranded abroad.
• Donated more than 173,327 pounds of food to food banks, hospitals and other organizations from United’s catering facilities and Polaris lounges.
• In 2019, launched Miles on a Mission, which allows members to donate miles to organizations including those that now support COVID-19 efforts.
• Working with governments worldwide to assist moving people/supplies.
• Partnered with California, New Jersey and New York City to provide free round-trip flights for medical volunteers traveling to heavily impacted cities, and to date have booked flights for more than 1,000 volunteers and 800 medical professionals.
• Houston employees led effort to convert Houston cargo facility into food distribution center to aid the Houston Food Bank’s efforts to feed families in need during the COVID-19 crisis.

United Airlines aircraft photo gallery:

United Airlines is teaming up with Listos California – a campaign by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services that helps vulnerable Californians prepare for disasters – to help address the significant health risks faced by older state residents isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Approximately 300 of the company’s employees in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose will dedicate their time to make tens of thousands of wellness calls to vulnerable Californians each week, checking in on them while providing a much-needed personal connection during this time of crisis.

“Listos California is delighted to connect United Airlines employees, highly trained in customer service, with isolated older adults in need of a calm and friendly voice, and competent direction to programs and services. The ‘California For All’ spirit, exemplified by the United workers’ compassionate service, truly elevates the culture of community that this pandemic has inspired,” said Karen Baker, Co-chair of Listos California Emergency Preparedness Campaign.

United is a founding partner of this innovative Social Bridging Project, which is being launched in partnership with Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) trained volunteers affiliated with local public safety agencies, and gerontology students at California State University, Sacramento. Governor Gavin Newsom recently called for support connecting with older residents through his “Stay Home. Save Lives. Check In.” initiative, led by the California Department of Aging.

“United Airlines reached out to us [and said] we have a workforce that would be perfectly positioned to be able to make wellness calls … so we want to thank United Airlines. We love the idea that the folks that we usually check in with for our travel arrangements will be checking in with our seniors and older Californians [as part of this initiative],” said Governor Gavin Newsom.

This announcement is an extension of a broader partnership between United and the state of California, including efforts to provide free, round-trip flights for doctors, nurses and other medical professionals from across the country to help treat patients in this time of unprecedented need.  United has flown more than 100 healthcare volunteers into and out of California to areas most impacted by COVID-19 since the partnership was launched two weeks ago.

“Our shared purpose at United is connecting people and uniting the world, and during these unprecedented times that has never been more important. United employees make caring connections with travelers across the globe every day, and while there are fewer people in the skies, that commitment to our customers, and their well-being, has never been stronger. We are profoundly grateful to all of our compassionate employees who will be using their experience and training to bring some much-needed comfort to our state’s most vulnerable residents during these difficult times,” said Janet Lamkin, United Airlines President, California.

Beyond the free medical flights and its involvement in the Social Bridging Project, the airline’s employees have been actively involved in finding other ways to support communities in need, including:

• Volunteering with Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, at the emergency distribution site at College of San Mateo.
• Donating more than 2,400 dental kits, ear plugs, eye shades, hygiene items, socks and tissues to Samaritan House San Mateo, Larkin Street Youth Services, and USO.
• Donating 300 amenity kits to frontline medical personnel at the University of California – San Francisco.
• Donating 59lbs of food from the United Club and Sodexo to the Health Care Foundation for Ventura County.
• Donating more than 2,000 pillows from its Economy Class cabins to Bay Area nonprofits.
• Operating more than 500 cargo charter flights that have moved over 18.7M lbs of cargo (including PPE, medical equipment, mail and other general cargo).
• Operating nearly 100 repatriation flights returning nearly 17,000 people home who were stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video:

United Airlines today announced that it has transformed one of its cargo facilities at George Bush Intercontinental Airport into a food distribution center to aid the Houston Food Bank’s efforts to feed families in need during the COVID-19 crisis.

The idea to convert the cargo space came from one employee, Mark Zessin, a United baggage team member who spends his days making sure customers’ belongings get where they need to. Now, he’s leading a team of hard-working employee volunteers at the bustling facility.

“We take great pride in having employees throughout the United network who are always looking for ways to make every action count, even in these extremely trying times,” said Sharon Grant, vice president of Global Community Engagement at United. “This is a great example of the power in working together with our nonprofit partners on addressing their challenges and creating unique solutions to ensure the community is served.”

Beyond the distribution centers, United team members across the system are finding ways to support COVID-19 first responders and those impacted by the virus. To date, United has:

• Donated more than 159,000 pounds of food to food banks, hospitals and other organizations from United’s catering facilities and Polaris lounges
• Donated 2,800 amenity kits to healthcare workers on the frontlines providing aid
• Donated $100k worth of advertising space in London to UNICEF to support its education efforts around COVID-19 and protecting children around the globe
• Operated more than 355 cargo charter flights that have moved over 5.6M kgs of cargo (including PPE, medical equipment, mail and other general cargo)
• Operated nearly 100 repatriation flights returning nearly 17,000 people home who were stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Provided free flights for doctors, nurses and medical professionals traveling to New York, New Jersey and California to help battle COVID-19

Employee volunteers in Houston are receiving, packing, sorting and distributing food and other items to families in need. To date, employees have sorted and bagged nearly 160,000 pounds of food and household products and volunteered nearly 5,000 hours.

“United and its team members are selflessly stepping up to help their neighbors by adapting their cargo center to be a produce inspecting, sorting and packing operation. Much of this food will be used at our new large-scale distribution model called ‘Neighborhood Super Site’ which expect to see 3,000 to 5,000 vehicles each event. Volunteers will also pick up product at the cargo center to then make safe, no-contact deliveries to reach households that must stay quarantined for their safety and the safety of others,” said Brian Greene, president and CEO of the Houston Food Bank. “This assistance to serve the most vulnerable population during this pandemic is amazing. United is a dedicated and important partner of the Houston Food Bank, and we will not forget this generosity.”

The Houston Food Bank is one of United’s critical needs partners. Over the last four years, United has invested more than one million dollars in the organization that annually serves more than 104 million meals to food insecure individuals and families in Southeast Texas. In addition to this current effort, United and the Houston Food Bank also partnered to distribute food and supplies to Federal employees during the 2019 Federal government shutdown.

United Airlines aircraft photo gallery:

United Airlines has sold 22 aircraft to BOC Aviation (Singapore) and immediately leased back the aircraft to conserve cash.

According to Reuters the deal involves six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and 16 Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft.

United aircraft photo gallery:

United Airlines has made this announcement:

Oscar Munoz, Chief Executive Officer, and J. Scott Kirby, President, have issued the following message to nearly 100,000 United Airlines employees:

To our United Family:

We hope all is well with you and your family. Two weeks ago, we hosted a virtual townhall and it was a valuable opportunity for us to connect with you all. And we’ve been really pleased with the response, more than 50,000 of you tuned in live or watched the broadcast on demand.

At the townhall, we discussed the impact of your calls and letters to Congress as they debated financial support for the airline industry. Washington heard you loud and clear, passing vital legislation that will provide commercial airlines with a total of $50 billion worth of grants and loans. We are grateful for the bipartisan cooperation displayed by leaders in the Congress and Administration — and appreciative of the critical role that you played. The thousands of letters and messages you sent, capturing the spirit of our United family and what our service means to our customers and communities, made all the difference in the world. We will need that spirit more than ever as we set our sights on the rest of 2020 and beyond.

The challenge that lies ahead for United is bigger than any we have faced in our proud 94-year history. We are committed to being as direct and as transparent as possible with you about the decisions that lay ahead and what impact they will have on our business and on you, the men and women of United Airlines.

Let’s start with the near-term. We now expect United to receive approximately $5 billion from the federal government through the Payroll Support Program under the CARES Act – to be used to protect the paychecks of our United employees. This government support does not cover our total payroll expense, but we’re keeping our promise that there will be no involuntary furloughs or pay rate cuts for U.S. employees before September 30. And, payroll only represents about 30 percent of our total costs. Fixed operating and non-payroll costs like airport rent, supplies and infrastructure are significant and not going away. That’s why we’ve been so aggressive in reducing our schedule, slashing capital expenditures, scaling back our work with vendors and consultants and cutting executive salaries in half.

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough. United aircraft parked at the Washington Dulles hub.

We’re planning to go even further to reduce costs. This weekend, we’ll load a revamped schedule that will further reduce our capacity to about 10 percent of what had been planned for May at the beginning of this year. We expect to announce similar reductions to the June schedule in the next few weeks. We have now essentially redesigned our network to be down 90 percent while complying with the CARES Act and maintaining connectivity among nearly all our domestic destinations. And these May and June schedule reductions will have direct consequences for our frontline employees in terms of total hours worked. Those work groups can expect to hear more details from their leaders soon.

The more flexibility we have from a payroll perspective, the better. So, all work groups can expect to see a continued emphasis on payroll cost cutting options over the next few weeks including new voluntary leave offerings and voluntary separation programs. For those who are eligible, please consider signing up for voluntary COLA and ANP days. We’re grateful to the more than 20,000 employees who have already signed up. Your sacrifice is both deeply appreciated and important to our company’s future.

These schedule changes reflect the stark reality of our situation – and unfortunately, it’s something that even legislation as large as the CARES Act can’t fix. Travel demand is essentially zero and shows no sign of improving in the near-term. To help you understand how few people are flying in this environment, less than 200,000 people flew with us during the first two weeks of April this year, compared to more than 6 million during the same time in 2019, a 97 percent drop. And we expect to fly fewer people during the entire month of May than we did on a single day in May 2019.

The historically severe economic impact of this crisis means even when travel demand starts to inch back, it likely will not bounce back quickly. We believe that the health concerns about COVID-19 are likely to linger which means even when social distancing measures are relaxed, and businesses and schools start to reopen, life won’t necessarily return to normal. For example, not all states and cities are expected to re-open at the same time. Some international travel restrictions will remain in place. Meeting planners and tour operators will do their best to accommodate people looking to avoid large crowds. So, while we have not yet finalized changes to our schedule for July and August, we expect demand to remain suppressed for the remainder of 2020 and likely into next year.

So, let us end where we began, the government funding we expect to receive soon is helpful in the near-term because we can protect our employees in the U.S. from involuntary furloughs and pay rate cuts through the end of September. But the challenging economic outlook means we have some tough decisions ahead as we plan for our airline, and our overall workforce, to be smaller than it is today, starting as early as October 1.

Throughout this crisis, we have been candid and upfront with you. And today is no different. We appreciate the partnership and open dialogue we have with all of you as we confront this extraordinary situation that has had an unprecedented impact on our families and our company. We promise to continue to stay in close touch – and will continue to be as transparent as possible – in the weeks and months ahead.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. And please continue to take good care of our customers and each other. It’s because of you that we remain proud to be United Together.

Oscar and Scott

United Airlines has made this announcement:

United Airlines has partnered with Governor Newsom to provide free, round-trip flights for medical volunteers traveling to California to help in the frontline fight against the COVID-19 crisis. The airline is working closely with the state of California to coordinate travel for doctors, nurses and other medical professionals from across the country to help treat patients, in this time of unprecedented need.

“I want to thank United Airlines for stepping in in a big way to help health care professionals. We couldn’t be more grateful for their largesse and support,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom in a press conference today.

California currently has more than 18,309 confirmed coronavirus cases and 507 fatalities in the state to-date. Bringing medical volunteers to the state will help bring much needed support to California’s medical professionals and the more than 2,825 individuals hospitalized, including the 1,132 people in intensive care.

“Our frontline healthcare workers are heroes. We are profoundly grateful to them for their unwavering commitment to support our communities and medical providers at this time of exceptional need,” said Janet Lamkin, President, California for United Airlines. “It is our hope that providing air travel at no cost will allow additional courageous volunteers and first responders the ability to reach health care facilities throughout California, which continues to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

United is working with the state of California to ensure qualified medical professionals are staffed in hospitals best suited to their areas of expertise and have the proper housing and transportation to enable them to effectively offer their services.

United remains committed to offering as many flights as possible to connect much-needed medical professionals to the frontlines in California, with 50 daily flights into SFO and 13 daily flights at LAX. The airline plans to expand this program to critical areas within the coming days and weeks to allow more volunteers to offer their vitally important services in the places that need them most.

Those interested in volunteering or learning more about the program can visit the California State website here.

In other news, United is operating medical supplies charter flights:

By Matt Adams, April 08, 2020

As the COVID-19 crisis has evolved, United’s cargo operation has emerged as a critical conduit for getting life-saving goods where they’re needed most.

Last week, we helped Flexport.org, the social impact arm of a freight forwarder based in San Francisco, import two shipments of medical and personal protective equipment (PPE) destined for New York and California. The first of those loads arrived in San Francisco from Shanghai aboard a chartered United Boeing 787-9 on Wednesday. It contained 1,000 ventilators, 70,000 goggles and 300,000 masks, all of which were donated by Alibaba cofounder and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai and his wife, Clara Wu Tsai. Those items were then put on a United 777 and flown to EWR, where they were distributed to 14 hospitals, medical centers and nursing homes in the New York City region.

The second shipment came into San Francisco the following day containing surgical gowns, hazmat suits and several million more masks for first responders in California. United employees unloaded that aircraft upon arrival and helped get the PPE onto trucks for delivery to Bay Area hospitals.

We are operating, on average, 20 cargo-only flights each day between six U.S. hubs and cities in Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. In the process of doing so, we are moving thousands of pounds of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and PPE, in addition to those mentioned above, to help stem the spread of COVID-19 and treat those afflicted.

United Airlines aircraft photo gallery (Boeing, new livery):