United Airlines has assured its shareholders that it will rebound from the public relations disaster caused by a passenger being violently dragged from his seat on an overbooked plane at Chcago’s O’Hare Airport. <br /><br /> That statement came from Chief Executive Oscar Munoz as the carrier reported better than expected earnings for the first three months of the year. <br /><br /> The airline – which is the third-largest in the US in terms of passenger traffic – saw revenue rise 2.7 percent from the same period last year to $8.4 billion (7.86 billion euros). <br /><br /> Higher fuel costs and recent labour agreements led to a 5.1 percent increase in unit cost per available seat mile and meant that net income declined to $96 million (89.8 million euros), a 69.3 percent fall from the same quarter a year earlier.<br /><br /> In his latest apology the chief executive said: “In the first quarter of 2017, our financial and operational performance gives us a lot of confidence about the foundation we are building. It is obvious from recent experiences that we need to do a much better job serving our customers.”<br /><br /> “The incident that took place aboard Flight 3411 has been a humbling experience, and I take full responsibility. This will prove to be a watershed moment for our company, and we are more determined than ever to put our customers at the center of everything we do,” Munoz added.<br /><br /> United’s shares declined more than two percent in early trading in New York on Tuesday. <br /><br /> United CEO Oscar Munoz: I’m sorry. We will fix this. https://t.co/v8EPGsiDCi pic.twitter.com/eOPiYcagvo— United (@united) April 11, 2017<br /><br /> Ban forcible removals<br /><br /> An Illinois lawmaker has introduced a bill to ban the forcible removal of travelers from flights by state or local government employees following the United incident.<br /><br /> The Airline Passenger Protection Act was sponsored by Republican state Representative Peter Breen.<br /><br /> Under Breen’s measure, passengers could not be removed from flights unless they were presenting a danger to themselves or others, an emergency was taking place or the passenger had caused a serious disturbance, according to a copy of the bill introduced in the state capital, Springfield.<br /><br /> “A commercial airline that removes validly seated customers without serious cause breaches the sacred trust between passengers and their airlines,” the bill said.<br /><br /> The legislation would also bar the state of Illinois from making travel arrangements, doing business with or having investments in any commercial airline that maintained a policy of removing paying passengers to make room for employees traveling on non-revenue tickets.<br /><br /> “The treatment of the passenger in last week’s incident at O’Hare is inexcusable and must be stopped,” Breen said in a statement. “It reflected badly on the airline, the City of Chicago, and the State of Illinois.”<br />
