United Airlines is facing increased FAA investigation after safety incidents

The Federal Aviation Administration will scrutinize United Airlines’ operations more closely in the coming weeks after a spate of recent safety incidents, the airline told employees in a memo Friday.

“We will begin to see an increased FAA presence in our operations as they review some of our work processes, manuals and facilities,” Sasha Johnson, the airline’s vice president of corporate safety, said in the memo. “We welcome their involvement and are very open to hearing from them what they think and what their views are on the things we may need to change to make us even safer.”

In some of the incidents, which United says were unrelated, one plane went off the runway, another plane arrived at its destination with a panel missing from the body, another lost a tire after takeoff and an engine caught fire after swallowing plastic packaging.

The FAA said in a statement that it was “routinely” monitoring airline operations. The agency said it “focuses on an airline’s compliance with applicable regulations; ability to identify hazards, assess and mitigate risks; and manage safety effectively.”

In the United memo, Ms. Johnson said the agency would “also pause a variety of certification activities for a period of time.”

United CEO Scott Kirby tried to reassure customers this week that the airline was taking safety seriously after the incidents.

“I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus,” he said in an email to customers. “Our team reviews the details of each case to understand what happened and uses these insights to inform our safety training and procedures for all employee groups.”

Experts warn against drawing sweeping conclusions from the events, which are worrying but common in aviation and often unreported by the media.