Yesterday, a United Airlines Airbus A320 diverted to Baton Rouge while on its way to Houston, with the crew reporting a possible instrument failure.

Diversion without further incident

According to the Aviation Herald, which regularly reports commercial aviation incidents, a United Airlines
Airbus A320 diverted yesterday. N432UA was flying from Charleston International Airport (CHS) to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Midflight, the crew declared an emergency, citing possible instrument failure.

After the possible instrument failure, the crew decided to divert to New Orleans but ended up diverting again. After communicating with air traffic control (ATC) that all instruments on the captain’s side were lost, the pilots decided to divert to Baton Rouge. The aircraft touched down at 08:28 local time.

A United Airlines Airbus A320 landing

Photo: Ryan Fletcher | Shutterstock

The Federal Aviation Administration said,

“United Airlines Flight 1195 landed safely at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport in Louisiana around 08:30 AM local time on Tuesday, Oct. 15, after the crew reported a possible instrument failure. The Airbus A320 took off from Charleston International Airport in South Carolina and was headed to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The FAA will investigate.”

Simple Flying contacted United Airlines, which provided the following statement,

“Flight UA1195 from Charleston to Houston landed safely in Baton Rouge on Tuesday morning after some information did not display correctly on one side of the flight deck. The pilots flew and landed safely using redundant instruments in the flight deck. As a precaution, emergency services met the aircraft before it taxied to the gate. We arranged for a different aircraft to take customers to Houston later that day and are investigating to better understand why some instruments did not display correctly.”

A strong third quarter

Yesterday, United Airlines released its third quarter financial figures, which exceeded expectations. The Chicago-based airline’s operating revenue during Q3 increased 2.5% over 2023, totaling $14.8 billion. Last quarter also became the third-busiest in the airline’s history in terms of the number of passengers carried.

The third quarter includes two major holidays in the United States, July 4th (Independence Day) and Labor Day, which is at the tail end of summer and a last chance for a long weekend. Both of these periods are extremely busy and drove an increase in passenger numbers this year.

United Airlines 787 by Vincenzo Pace-4

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Summer 2023 also saw United operate its largest ever schedule to Europe, including flights to Portugal, Spain, Greece, Croatia, and more. A notable route resumption in late August was service from Los Angeles to Shanghai. United was the first airline to bring its service back on the route following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patrick Quayle, Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances, shared on his LinkedIn that United is continuously solidifying its position as the best airline in the history of aviation. With his role in charge of the network, Quayle has overseen major expansion to several unique destinations, like last week when United announced it would begin flying to Greenland and Mongolia.

The airline also announced that after such a strong quarter, it would buy back $1.5 billion of company shares.

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