United Airlines hiring thousands to handle record summer air travel

Ahead of forecasts of a record breaking travel season, United Airlines announced Tuesday it will hire 15,000 new employees nationwide, with 1,500 new hires at its Newark Liberty Airport hub.

United officials made the announcement Tuesday at a press conference citing “our biggest Memorial Day weekend.” United averaged 535,000 passengers a day at the start of the Memorial Day travel period and these numbers are expected to increase 5% in June, July and August, said Toby Enquist, United’s chief operations officer.

United’s hiring spree comes as Airlines for America, a domestic airline industry association, forecasts U.S. airlines will carry 271 million passengers this summer travel season, a 6.3% increase from last summer. This would be a new record surpassing one set in summer 2023, when 255 million people flew U.S. airlines.