United Airlines will not fire anyone involved in violent removal of passenger

United Airline’s widely-condemned violent removal of a passenger from a flight was a “system failure” and no employees will lose their jobs as a result, United Continental chief Oscar Munoz said Tuesday.

“It was a system failure across various areas, so there was never a consideration for firing an employee or anyone around it,” Munoz said on a conference call.

United has been under fire since video went viral showing security personnel dragging battered and bloodied passenger David Dao off an overbooked Chicago flight to make room for an airline employee.

Munoz again apologised for the incident as he opened the quarterly earnings conference call with investors Tuesday.

“We’ve always thought to repay our customers’ trust with the highest quality of service and deepest level of respect and dignity,” Munoz said. “We are and will make the necessary policy changes to ensure this never happens again.”

The incident stoked global outrage and talk of boycotts on social media, although some analysts think it will not significantly affect United’s financial prospects.

Morningstar said: “The flight 3411 incident, while undoubtedly a public relations disaster, will most likely not materially affect United’s medium- to long-term financial and operational performance.”