United CEO defends merger dreams despite pushback from American Airlines

By Tomi Kilgore

While merger talks have ended 'for the foreseeable future,' United CEO Kirby describes how it would create more value for travelers and create more jobs

United CEO Scott Kirby said the pursuit of talks with American has ended, for now, as he defended his reasoning for pursuing talks.

United Airlines Holdings CEO Scott Kirby isn't going to let an unwilling partner get in the way of his dream merger.

Kirby laid out in a public statement Monday why he believed a merger between United (UAL) and American Airlines Group (AAL) would work, not only to better compete on a global basis but also to provide better value and lower prices for U.S. travelers, while boosting the U.S. economy by creating more jobs.

And, despite antitrust concerns - a combination would control about 40% of the domestic available seat miles - Kirby said he was "confident" that a merger could get regulatory approval.

His comments came just days after American CEO Robert Isom said a merger with United would be bad for customers, the industry and American Airlines.

Kirby acknowledged that "Without a willing partner, something this big simply can't get done." While he said the pursuit of talks with American have ended, he left the door open by saying that talks were just off the table "for the foreseeable future."

Read: 5 things to know about a potential airline merger of United and American.

Shares of American Airlines rose 0.3% in premarket trading, while United's stock slipped 0.1%.

So far this year, American shares have dropped 21.1% through Friday, with losses accelerating in March over worries about rising fuel prices resulting from the Iran conflict, while United's stock has lost 16.8%. In comparison, the S&P 500 index SPX has gained 4.7% this year.

Here's how Kirby defended his dream merger with American.

First, he said that in the past, airline mergers were usually between two airlines that were struggling and motivated to cut costs, flights and jobs. But Kirby said a United-American merger would be about growth, creating more choices for travelers by providing more opportunities to earn loyalty and reward points.

He added that a merger would create more value for Americans, which he said has been United's focus - rather than just cutting fares. He noted that focus led to ticket prices in 2025 being 29% lower than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. A merger with American could "dramatically" increase the total number of economy seats. "We wouldn't propose a combination that would cause prices to rise for customers," Kirby said.

A merger would help the U.S. airline industry better compete with foreign competition, Kirby said. He noted that foreign airlines fly about 65% of international seats into the U.S., even though 40% of their customers are not Americans.

And finally, Kirby believes a merger would "boost the U.S. economy," and create millions of jobs. While this part showed some optimistic conjecture, Kirby said a combined airline's need for new planes would support domestic manufacturing. And, with more seats flying to more places, a merger would boost tourism and business travel.

He acknowledged that a merger of this size would draw much skepticism from some government officials, but, since this would have been a merger about growth rather than what consumers were losing, he said regulators would eventually come around.

But as of now, that remains only a flight of fancy for Kirby.

-Tomi Kilgore

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04-27-26 0820ET