Scott Kirby is still talking about buying American Airlines, and the more he explains it, the less sense it makes.

Scott Kirby’s Bizarre New Case For Buying American Airlines

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has doubled down on his argument that United should buy American Airlines, framing a merger not as industry consolidation, but as a patriotic growth strategy that would supposedly help consumers, workers, manufacturers, and the broader U.S. economy.

That sounds clever on paper, but is detached from reality.

Kirby’s latest public comments attempt to rebrand what would be one of the most anti-competitive airline mergers in modern U.S. history as some kind of national economic stimulus plan.

Kirby’s Full Statement

Start by reading Kirby’s statement in full, issued as a press release earlier today:

Over the last two weeks, there’s been a lot of commentary about a potential merger between United Airlines and American Airlines. And to be direct, here’s what happened: I approached American about exploring a combination because I thought we could do something incredible for customers together. I always knew that the only way any merger could be successful (and approved) is if it was great for customers and with a willing partner that shared my big, bold vision. I was confident that this combination, which would have been about adding and not subtracting, creating a truly great airline that customers love, could get regulatory approval. I was hoping to pitch that story to American, but they declined to engage and instead responded by publicly closing the door. And without a willing partner, something this big simply can’t get done.

In the past, airline mergers usually have been about two struggling airlines coming together to cut costs, flights and headcount. My aspirations could not be more different. The bold idea I wanted to pursue was about growth that would usher in a brand new era of leadership by U.S. aviation. After all, flight was born here and the storied names of the past, including both United and American, set the standards that the rest of the world aspired to. By combining our airlines and using that scale to revolutionize our customers’ experience, we’d create a new, thriving U.S. airline that would be the very best in the world for customers – full stop.

While American’s public comments make it clear that a merger like this is off the table for the foreseeable future, I do think it’s worth taking the time to describe in some more detail what this could have looked like.

To start, it’s clear the strategy United has been implementing over the last several years is winning: building a brand loyal airline by de-commoditizing travel, investing in the customer experience and creating value for every customer no matter where they are sitting.

In the simplest terms, combining United and American could: 1) scale and grow that winning, customer-focused approach, 2) unlock incredible, new opportunities for both airlines’ customers, employees and the communities we serve and 3) create a great, new U.S. airline with the scale to compete and lead around the globe.

Here are some of the benefits the combination could produce:

Fly an airline that customers love to even more places: United is already changing what it means to be an airline by having the best service, technology, reliability, and products – for every customer – so that flying on United feels better than other airlines. And, we have big plans to do even more. Bringing those benefits to even more people gives customers of both airlines more choice and more value, including best-in-class products, technology and experiences as well as a more valuable loyalty and rewards program that offers more opportunities to earn and use miles. The combined airline would have been about growth – especially internationally and with expanded service to smaller communities – both of which are mathematically enabled by having a larger network.

Create even more value: Price and affordability are important, but unless you think air travel is just a commodity, ‘value’ matters too. The truth is that in 2025 ticket prices were 29% cheaper than they were pre-pandemic (adjusted for inflation). And in that time, United has focused on providing ever more value to customers by investing in our product: newer, more modern aircraft with bigger bins, screens in every seat, Bluetooth connectivity, free Starlink Wi-Fi and an award-winning mobile app, just to name a few things. A merger of United and American (and the growth that would have come with it) would have dramatically increased the total number of economy seats in the marketplace, offering cost-conscious customers more affordable ways to fly to more places and greater choices across all price points, while still delivering industry-best value to all customers. We wouldn’t propose a combination that would cause prices to rise for customers.

Create a truly globally competitive airline – based in the U.S.: Today, there’s a big trade deficit with foreign flagged airlines – they fly about 65% of the long haul seats into our country even though only 40% of the customers are foreign citizens – and the combined scale of United and American would be a better way to compete with foreign carriers. A larger US global airline would deliver U.S. jobs and economic opportunities.  This U.S. airline would set the standard for the next century just like U.S. airlines used to in the first century of passenger flight. And this would be a great U.S. airline that is the best, whether you’re a customer from Chicago, Des Moines or Dubai.

Boost the U.S. economy, create millions of jobs and revitalize and strengthen the U.S. aircraft manufacturing industry: America is stronger when U.S. carriers flow more of the dollars of U.S. consumers to communities, employees and manufacturing right here at home. A combined company would have created tens of thousands of new high paying, unionized jobs with great benefits which would have led to even more career growth opportunities for the 250,000 employees already at United and American. Plus, the combined airline’s need for new aircraft would have supported American manufacturing and domestic supply chains and driven even more job creation. And by flying more seats to more places in the U.S., this merger would boost local tourism and business travel, generating billions of dollars in U.S. economic activity and even more jobs.

I recognized from the beginning that a merger this big in our industry would attract a lot of skepticism in the media, including from some government officials. Since previous mergers have been about saving struggling airlines, previous legal and regulatory reviews have always focused on subtraction and what’s being lost. But, a different kind of merger proposal – one that’s focused on growth, customer investments and global competitiveness – would have been a different proposition altogether. And, while divestitures in certain domestic markets obviously would have been required, I believe regulators would have approved such a deal because they would have recognized the benefits to customers, our shared employees and communities from coast-to-coast and around the world.

While our pursuit of talks with American have ended, our mission to build the greatest airline in the history of aviation at United is well underway. We have a winning strategy, a culture of innovation and 115,000 of the best aviation professionals in the world working together to deliver for our customers. While the airline industry has always been dynamic and unpredictable (it’s one of the reasons that I love this business), United’s future is brighter than it’s ever been.

Here is the key portion of his statement:

“This would be a growth merger, not a cost-cutting merger. We would add more economy seats, create tens of thousands of jobs, buy more Boeing aircraft, expand international flying, strengthen the U.S. against foreign competitors, and lower costs for consumers.”

That is quite a promise.

More seats. More jobs. More airplanes. Lower fares. Stronger America.

All from combining two of the four largest airlines in the country.

Wow!

To borrow the words of Joe Biden, “With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey.”

Mergers Usually Reduce Competition, Not Create It

Airline mergers are almost always sold with flowery language about efficiency, consumer benefits, and stronger networks. We have heard this story before.

In practice, large mergers tend to reduce head-to-head competition, especially in fortress hubs and overlapping markets. Fewer competitors generally means more pricing power, less pressure to improve service, and fewer alternatives for travelers.

Would some routes gain connectivity? Sure.

But would a United-American combination magically lower prices across the board? Are you kidding me? Of course not.

Even American Airlines CEO Robert Isom has said such a merger would be bad for consumers and competition.

Kirby’s Personal Vendetta Against AA

Kirby’s fixation on American has been the focus of much discussion, but it strikes me as undeniable.

He talks about American often. He mocks its weakness, belittles its strategy, and now discusses future ownership like it’s his to claim. Maybe he genuinely believes American cannot survive long term as currently structured and sees an opportunity to leapfrog Delta permanently, which is not mutually exclusive to the unfinished business dating back to his own history at American.

Whatever the motive, publicly pitching the acquisition of a direct rival while dressing it up as altruism is unusual.

If United truly believed the deal had merit, there are more serious ways to pursue it.

Instead, this has become a public campaign (likely with an audience of one, whose initials are DJT).

There Is A Real Case For Buying American, But This Is Not It

I have argued before that there is a strategic logic to United buying American if regulators were ever willing to allow it.

American is underperforming. United is ascendant. There are network complementarities, especially in Texas and Chicago.

But the honest case would be scale, pricing power, network optimization, loyalty leverage, and competitive positioning against Delta. That may would be anti-consumer, but at least it is honest.

Claiming a merger of two giant airlines would broadly lower prices and create a golden age for consumers stretches credibility…I won’t say it but perhaps these two emoticons will: 🦇💩 crazy.

Can I give you one example? Today, United has flights form Chicago (ORD) to Los Angeles (LAX) at 7:00 am, 8:40 am,  10:50 am, 1:18 pm, 2:40 pm, 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm, 8:03 pm, 9:45 pm, and 10:45 pm. American has flights at 6:00 am, 6:56 am, 8:57 am, 10:30 am, 1:18 pm, 4:30 pm, 7:21 pm, and 8:45 pm.

Do you mean to tell me Scott Kirby that a combined AA-UA would operate 18 flights a day from ORD-LAX? Give me a break.

And don’t forget what Kirby said last week:

“Certainly, the longer this lasts, the higher the probability goes that the pricing increases hold. And we probably won’t hold 100% if we normalize as I told the team earlier today, and it’s just my guess that if things went back to mid-February normal, I think we get to keep 20% of the price increase next year. I think that’s going to move towards 80%. And every day, it’s ticking up longer as this goes on.”

In short, we will raise fares as high as we can for as long as we can.

All of this makes clear to me that Kriby’s cozying up to the Trump administration was probably all leading to this…and I believe as brilliant as Kirby, he fooled himself into thinking this horrific deal had any chance of becoming a reality.

> Read More: United Thinks It Can Pull A “Concorde Moment” And Keep Airfares High, Even If Fuel Prices Drop

CONCLUSION

Scott Kirby may be right that American Airlines faces structural challenges. He may even be right that consolidation is eventually coming again to the U.S. airline industry.

But his latest defense of buying American asks the public to believe that less competition would somehow produce lower fares, more jobs, and a stronger economy.

I’m not buying it and I don’t think any serious person is (maybe Kyle? 😉 )

If United wants American, just say so. But spare us the fairy tale.

And don’t think when Kirby says, “While our pursuit of talks with American have ended” he has given up. Today’s statement was the start of the next round of negotiations.

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