United CEO Slams ‘Idiotic’ Theory He Used American Bid as Cover for Smaller Deal
Photo Credit: A United Airlines Airbus A321 'Coastliner'. United Airlines
Skift Take
United is done trying to buy growth. Scott Kirby is now betting that weaker rivals will hand it to him for free.
Scott Kirby has officially walked United Airlines away from the M&A table – and torched a popular Wall Street theory about what he might do next.
Speaking at a Bernstein conference in New York on Wednesday, Kirby said United would not pursue airline mergers “for any time I can see in the foreseeable future.” It ends weeks of speculation that followed reports he had floated a combination with American Airlines to government officials, including President Donald Trump.
Kirby also directly rejected a popular theory that the outreach to American was designed to make a smaller acquisition – potentially JetBlue – appear more acceptable to regulators. "It's just idiotic, I just don't understand it at all, but that was definitely not the plan," the United CEO said.
A tie-up between United and American would have created the largest airline in the world by fleet, capacity, and revenue. It also would likely have faced one of the most signific
