A United Airlines flight bound for Japan was held up for hours before take-off on Monday because of a problem with the plane’s engine.
Flight UA35 was scheduled to depart San Francisco International Airport bound for Osaka at 12:05 p.m. But after taxiing on the runway for more than an hour, the Boeing 777-200 returned to the gate, and passengers and crew disembarked at around 1:45 p.m. Passenger Belinda Pitco told the San Francisco Chronicle that the pilot made an announcement explaining that “the right engine is not working.”
The incident was at least the 10th of its kind involving the airline in the past two weeks and came on the same day that the CEO of the company, Scott Kirby, emailed customers to assure them the airline was safe following a slew of widely reported incidents, including a mid-flight engine fire and a wheel coming off during take-off.
“Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, our airline has experienced a number of incidents that are reminders of the importance of…