On Tuesday, United Airlines announced that it would be prioritizing diversity over safety, stating that it is planning to increase the number of women and people of color who become pilots to be 50% of the 5,000 pilots trained in the next decade.
The airline made the announcement on Twitter, writing, “Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color.”
Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color. Learn more and apply now: https://t.co/VbOFvFOksB pic.twitter.com/r0ScH6MQAJ
— United Airlines (@united) April 6, 2021
According to the United Airlines website, only 20% of its pilot group are women or people of color. The website also states the same goal they posted on Twitter, writing that they have “plans for 50% of United Aviate Academy students being women and people of color to ensure our students reflect the diversity of the customers and communities we serve.” This statement is a little more revealing, with the explicit reasoning for the “plans for 50%” being “to ensure our students reflect the diversity of the customers and communities we serve.”
After backlash with Twitter users pointing out that merit should be the deciding factor on who should be trained to be pilots, United posted a follow up tweet, writing, “All the highly qualified candidates we accept into the Academy, regardless of race or sex, will have met or exceeded the standards we set for admittance.”
United Airlines did not explain why their goal had not been achieved already if they had enough qualified candidates to fit their diversity goals, as suggested by their damage control tweet.
The statements by United Airlines suggest that United has either been practicing discriminatory hiring practices or United is planning on practicing discriminatory hiring practices. Either way, United has either implicitly announced an end to prioritizing safety, or that they will finally begin to prioritize safety. One thing seems certain though, in a country with nearly one billion people on flights annually, United Airlines does not always have these lives as their top priority.
