United and the Professional Airline Flight Control Association (PAFCA) have reached a tentative agreement on a contract extension for the company's more than 420 dispatchers.

The tentative agreement extends the current contract through the end of 2021 and delivers important improvements for United's dispatchers, as well as the company.

"This is an important milestone for United and for our dispatchers," said Oscar Munoz, United president and chief executive officer.

"Our dispatchers do a superb job of keeping our passengers and crews safe and keeping our operations reliable, and I'm glad we were able to reach this tentative agreement within a short period of negotiations.

I want to thank all of the company and union negotiators for working side-by-side to reach this positive outcome."

The agreement is subject to ratification by United's dispatchers.