AP
United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz
Oscar Munoz, the CEO of United Airlines, appeared on ABC's Good Morning America to apologize for an incident in which a passenger was forcibly dragged off of a plane on Sunday that has sparked outrage.In an interview with GMA, Munoz said that he apologizes to the passenger - now identified as Dr. David Dao - and promised that nothing similar will happen on a United Airlines flight again.
"The first thing that I think is important to say is to apologize to Dr. Dao, his family, the passenger on the flight, our customers, our employees, that is not who our family at United is," said Munoz. "You saw us at a bad moment and this can never, will never happen again on a United Airlines flight. That's my premise and that's my promise."
Munoz was criticized for his initial response to the incident, issuing a statement many (especially on social media) saw as a non-apology. The United CEO followed up with a second apology on Tuesday.
Additionally, after United's initial statement said that Dao was "belligerent" during the incident, Munoz said that the doctor from Louisville, Kentucky was not to blame.
"No, he can't be," said Munoz when asked if Dao was at fault in any way. "He was a paying passenger sitting on our seat, in our aircraft, and no one should be treated that way."
Munoz also told GMA that the use of law enforcement will be looked at and that the incident was a "system failure."
"We have not provided our front-line supervisors and managers and individuals with the proper tools, policies, procedures that allow them to use their common sense," said Munoz. "They all have an incredible amount of common sense and this issue could have been solved by that. That's on me, I have to fix that, and I think that's something we can do."
Watch part of the interview via Good Morning America:
FULL INTERVIEW: United CEO speaks out, says "this will never happen again on a United Airlines flight." https://t.co/O8mEgtlCia pic.twitter.com/flwpeI3hig
- Good Morning America (@GMA) April 12, 2017