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United Vows 'No Sacred Cows' in All-Out Effort to Save Airline

Brian Sumers

Photo Credit: United Airlines jets on the ground in Cleveland.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Aircraft_at_Cleveland_Hopkins_International_Airport#/media/File:United_B737_at_Cleveland_Airport.jpg / Jldohm

Skift Take

United President Scott Kirby has taken Covid-19 seriously since the virus first started spreading across the globe. Will that foresight help lessen the blow?

As some U.S. airlines play politics, telling investors and travelers they have no plans to furlough employees, or close hubs, United Airlines executives are telling the unvarnished truth, saying they're prepared to do whatever it takes to keep the company operating amid near zero demand for air travel. "While we don't have any plans to close hubs, when you say everything is on the table, we mean everything," Scott Kirby, who becomes United's CEO later this month, said on United's first quarter earnings call on Friday. "There are no sacred cows."

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United has no choice, Kirby said. Roughly eight weeks ago, as some competitors were downplaying Covid-19s influence on travel, Kirby was the first U.S. airline executive to tell investors how bad the crisis might get, telling them United's worst case modeling showed April revenue falling by about 70 percent. At the time, Kirby admitted that seemed impossible, but the result was much worse. Revenue last month decreased by 95 percent. "While we were more bearish than anyone, in hindsight, even our expectations w

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