Inside United Airlines' nerve center: How thousands of flights stay on track every day
A 24/7 Network Operations Center outside Chicago coordinates weather, dispatch, and crews to keep United’s global schedule on track amid disruption.
United Airlines operates a 24/7 Network Operations Center just outside Chicago, a nerve center that oversees nearly 5,000 flights a day. The facility houses more than 2,000 employees across 26 departments—including flight dispatch, crew scheduling, meteorology and aircraft maintenance coordination—working to keep departures and arrivals aligned across United’s global network.
The center’s leadership describes the operation as the global brain of United’s network, where staff constantly coordinate to anticipate and respond to issues anywhere in the world that could disrupt a flight, and then communicate updates out to field teams. The work spans mechanical problems, weather delays, and crew reassignments, all coordinated to minimize impact on schedules.
The weather team is a critical link. Nathan Polderman, the senior manager of meteorology who leads United’s in-house weather department, oversees forecasters who issue forecasts across the network and flag events that could delay or ground aircraft. The shift starts with two forecasters overnight and ramps up to four during the day, feeding real-time intelligence to flight dispatchers so they can decide how or whether a flight should proceed.
In cases where turbulence, icing, or other bad weather threatens a destination airport, the dispatcher coordinates decisions based on the latest forecast. The goal, managers say, is to keep flights moving safely and smoothly, often before passengers realize a problem exists. The NOC emphasizes that timely, real-time updates from airports nationwide are essential to maintaining seamless operations across the network.
The Network Operations Center is located just outside Chicago and embodies the scale of United’s operational resilience. Behind the scenes, thousands of people across 26 departments—from meteorology and maintenance coordination to flight dispatch and crew scheduling—work together to keep United’s global schedule intact and responsive to disruption.
