United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby sure seems to be interested in a deal.
First, there was wide speculation that United could merge with JetBlue after the two announced a partnership in May 2025. More recently, Kirby has floated the idea of a merger with American Airlines to senior government officials, according to multiple reports published Monday. Kirby has also made comments about United picking up the assets of its struggling rivals due to high jet fuel prices.
“If others take longer to adjust, it’s going to amp up the stress on them. Many of them start with weak income statements, weak balance sheets,” Kirby said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in March. “And we’ll be there to pick up some of those assets as we go through the crisis.”
A tie-up between United and American would be the first significant airline merger in over a decade and would potentially create the largest airline in the world. Even with the b