United Airlines will not use law enforcement officers to drag passengers from overbooked planes in future, its chief executive has promised, as he said "this can never, will never happen again".
Oscar Munoz said the incident in which a doctor was dragged, bloodied and screaming, from his seat by Chicago police officers was a "system failure". "That's on me," he added.
He was speaking to ABC News in his first interview on the controversy.
He told the network: "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.
"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."
In a letter to employees on Tuesday he "deeply" apologised for the incident, in which a man was pulled bodily from his seat because a United employee needed to use it.
Mr Munoz said he had apologised to the passenger and his family. He has no plans to resign, he added.
Video of the incident sparked outcry on social media, spurring some users to call for a boycott of the airline. Many wondered whether the man, who is Asian, was unfairly targeted for his race.
The incident, which caused widespread outrage, occurred when the United Express Flight 3411 from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, was overbooked and the airline required four passengers to leave the aircraft to make room for staff.
Passengers were offered first $400 and later $800 to give up their seats, but when too few people volunteered they became selected by the airline at random. Chicago security officers were called in when the man was chosen to leave but refused to.
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