United Airlines addresses air travel safety fears

The head of United Airlines is seeking to directly reassure travellers that his company's flights are safe, after recent mishaps have spooked customers.

In a letter to the airline's millions of passengers, chief executive Scott Kirby said "safety is our highest priority".

Last week, a panel from a plane's body fell off mid-flight and earlier this month a plane engine caught fire.

United is reviewing what happened, Mr Kirby wrote.

"I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus," wrote Mr Kirby, adding that safety is at the centre of "everything we do".

He said the company was already planning to expand training for pilots and new maintenance technicians and would increase resources to manage its network of suppliers.

United carried a record 165 million passengers on its planes last year and brought in $2.6 bn (£2 bn). The company is counting on strong demand for travel to continue.

Mr Kirby said the incidents - which also included a plane that lost a tire after take-off, among others - were all "unrelated".

But it comes amid elevated attention on air travel incidents large and small.

In January, an emergency exit door on a nearly brand new Boeing plane blew off in mid-air, reviving wider questions about the quality of the jets produced by the company, one of the world's two major jet-makers. That was on Alaska Airlines.

The Federal Aviation Administration said, as is customary, it was investigating the United incident involving the missing panel, which occurred on a 25-year-old plane.

Its absence was discovered after landing and pictures spread widely on social media.

United attributed the fire on the other plane, which made a safe emergency landing, to an "engine issue".

The FAA is also reviewing a number of other incidents.

Fatalities and accidents on US commercial flights remain extremely rare, according to US government statistics.