United Airlines has announced it will hire more than 2,500 employees at Newark Liberty International Airport by 2026, expanding its largest East Coast hub as the carrier marks what it calls a turnaround in reliability after several months of operational challenges.
The hiring push, announced in Sept. 16 release, follows what United said was its best summer on-time record at Newark, where the airline flew more than six million passengers without any flight delays, putting it on par with New York’s other major airports.
CEO Scott Kirby said the airline had emerged from a difficult period of delays and cancellations, crediting improvements made by federal and state officials after a series of communication blackouts in the spring left controllers unable to contact planes. The outages—along with other challenges at Newark associated with air traffic control staffing, runway construction, and outdated equipment—forced United to cut schedules and prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to cap Newark traffic at 68 flights per hour, down from as high as 86….