United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has laid out four pillars he says are necessary for United to become “the biggest and the best airline in the history of aviation.”
United Airlines CEO Outlines The Four Pillars That Will Lead To Growth And Dominance
In a video message to employees reviewed by Live and Let’s Fly, Kirby seeks to rally the troops for what he views as the most critical year in United’s push to grow and to win loyalty.
Recent messages from Kirby have dwelled on the past, thanking employees for their tenacity during the pandemic to transform the image of United into a company that commands more respect from the public at large, and importantly the decision makers who influence public policy. While Kirby again thanked employees for their past work, his message was centered on the future:
“But as proud as I am of the last two years, we are about to embark on an exciting and historic growth initiative at United Airlines, United Next.”
Live and Let’s Fly has outlined United Next, a program that will will modernize United’s fleet through the addition of 500 new aircraft and the retrofit of all existing narrbowdy aircraft to include customer-friendly features like seatback screens, mood lighting, and high-speed wi-fi.
> Read More: United Airlines Will Modernize Mainline Jets With New Interiors
Pillar 1: United Next
Kirby went on to detail United Next, his first pillar to build the biggest and best airline:
“For a little bit of context, the fastest any airline in the world has grown in history was Ryanair grew by 52 net new airplanes in a single year. We’re going to grow by over 100 airplanes per year, and we’re going to do it five years in a row.
“We’re going to add 500 aircraft to the fleet of United Airlines. And that is a great opportunity but it’s also going to be challenging. What that means is that we’ve got, this year, four pillars to really, really focus on, that we can all focus on to make sure that we’re successful and that we continue to build upon the foundation that we build during COVID, to really establish ourselves as the biggest and the best airline in the history of aviation.
“And if we’re successful bringing these 500 airplanes onboard, we are so far ahead of any of our competitors that there’s really no way that anyone can catch up to us.”
Calling it “really, really complicated,” Kirby explained the complexities of upsizing the fleet, including:
- the need for more pilots
- how pilots will need to be retained as they move to different fleet types
- re-striping airports gates to account for new mainline aircraft replacing regional jets
- adding more gates
In an important display of leadership, Kirby called upon existing employees to step up, encouraging them to take on larger roles with more responsibility as thousands more are hired.
Kirby added, “Any snare could hinder the goal of bringing on two airplanes per week for the next fie years and to grow.”
Pillar 2: Operational Excellence
Citing United’s policies of ditching change fees and using Connection Saver technology to help avoid unnecessary missed flights, Kirby argued United made “huge strides” in NPS during the pandemic. (Net Promoter Score is the metic United uses to gauge customer satisfaction)
“We have to be really focused not only on taking care of customers, but also getting the planes off the gate and keeping the airline running on time, because there’s nothing that drives our customer satisfaction as much as running an on-time airline and getting their flights there.”
Live and Let’s Fly has learned that pushback on-time is seen as so important, United is scaling back its Connection Saver program as it weighs how important departing on-time is for the majority of passengers on its flights.
Pillar 3: Customer Service (NPS)
Even so, Kirby continues to push the narrative that customer service is key to extracting a premium in revenue from customers rather than simply competing on the basis of ticket cost.
“You know, I think that in the end is going to be probably the most enduring change that we all are able to look back on at the end of COVID and say, what changed the most about United Airlines? And it is the focus on the customer.
“And that feeling, making our customers feel like we care, because we do care, and taking care of those customers, more than anything, is what’s going to drive our market share higher and get us out of the world of just competing for the lowest price, and get customers who are loyal to United, who believe in United, who know what we stand for.”
Pillar 4: CSAMx
Finally, Kirby outlined the seemingly-contradictory goal of controlling costs. First, Kirby sees this as possible through technology.
“What we haven’t done is take any of the cheese off the pizza. We have invested more in the product, in the customer experience, and how we treat and take care of customers, and you can see that with the United Next order.
“What we also have to do is use all the technology that we created that many other airlines don’t have. We’ve created new processes, new technology, that are going to allow us have costs that come down over time, cost per available seat-mile (CASMx).”
The replacement of airports agents with “Agents on Demand” may impress Wall Street, but flyers have reported a very mixed experience with this concept.
Kirby sees further cost savings achieved by replacing regional jets with larger mainline jets:
“The other tailwind that we have is because we’re growing that drives cost efficiency, and because we’re up-guaging. We’re going to add on average about 30% more seats per flight to our airplanes in the next few years, and that gives us a real tailwind. “
Profitably, per Kirby, is what is essential for United Next be successful. That will require costs in other areas to be controlled.
“So while we implement United Next, while we focus on operational excellence, we can’t lose sight of all the progress we made on efficiency to run a cost-efficient airline.”
Passengers have most-noticed that “cost-efficiency” in a scaled back soft product onboard.
CONCLUSION
Kirby ends where he began, making the case that United will be “biggest” and “best” airline in the world and calling upon all employees to take part.
“These four pillars will really drive United to a historic achievement. We’ve set ourselves up to be the biggest, the best airline in the history of aviation. During the pandemic, we got a full lap ahead of our competitors, and it’s up to use to finish the race and do so successfully.
“And as long as we don’t stumble, there’s no way anyone can catch us. But to be clear, this is an every single person at United Airlines effort. We’re going to be growing fast, and we need 100% of the people at United Airlines all in on making this the biggest, the best airline in the history of aviation.”
I’m not sure United “got a full lap ahead” over the last two years, but there is no doubt the United Next program has the chance to fundamentally transform United Airlines. Next week, we’ll break down some roadblocks that may make this task harder.
What do you think of Kirby’s vision for United? If you are an employee, are you fully onboard?
Sorry Kirby, you still have….
1) A garbage basic economy fare
2) Stupid checked bag fees
3) Indifferent FAs
4) Hubs prone to delays
5) A FF product that has no advantages
6) A meh credit card product
7) The smallest hub footprint (good luck if you live in the SE or NW part of the country.)
Despite all that, at least you aren’t AA.
I used to live in San Francisco (huge UA hub), then lived near Washington DC (huge UA hub). Now I live in Seattle (not a UA hub at all; AS and DL dominate). Would like to have more UA options from here. At least the weather is pleasant and there is plenty of water!
From SEA we can go nonstop on UA to: SFO, LAX, DEN, IAH, ORD, EWR, IAD. Would like more choices: SMF, LHR, HNL, OGG, etc.
UA,no thanks
Agree. Flew UA first class round trip recently east coast to Denver. Seats on both flights did not recline … at all. No actual meal on outgoing flight. Inedible meal on return flight. Bad seat design with immovable drinks tray between seat arms that stuck out into space between rows making it difficult to squeeze past from window to aisle. there were far more people boarded ahead of first class passengers than there were first class passengers. Only real benefit is seats are larger and luggage arrives first at destination. Oh and flight attendants were businesslike but not particularly friendly.
Kirby
Have you thought of secret shopper program to learn about how shit your airline is. I would love to hear from someone that like United. I am a million mile traveler and I have yet to find someone that enjoys flying United.
How about focus on 1 pillar: be kind and respectful, all inclusive pricing upfront. Take care of your loyal customers, lastly don’t allow people to buy their way in to 1K and global service.
I like flying United. I find their agents helpful and have never been disrespected.
I’ve never once had issues with their pricing.
I feel like I get good benefits put of my status.
Your experience seems to be very different than mine.
I’m a UA Million Miler. I had a real nice experience on United on a flight in 2016. The other 87 flights since then, we’ll, not so much.
He learned everything he knows from AA. He doesn’t have what it takes to do what he is saying. I’ve met him and he did not care that on an AA flight out of Rio we had no headsets, wine, or food. He reclined 1A wearing eyeshades while his “team” suffered along with the passengers. I don’t believe he has changed. All of these guys are in it for the golden parachutes and multimillion dollar paydays.
Scott,
Bold promises, very bold, however let’s see where United ends up financially after all of this spending in a rising interest rate environment. You have cash on hand to pay for the growth in the next 12ish months, how are you going to finance the next 400 aircraft deliveries while being fiscally competitive? You are going to saddle the company with enormous debt with higher interest rates for the next several decades.
What is going to happen in the next economic downturn when air travel demand evaporates again and you cannot cannot service your massive debt loads? Oh wait, I know the answer to that – you’ll send the bill to the American taxpayer yet again. Either way we know you’ll walk away with millions in your pocket. Just another airline CEO making long-term promises they will never be ablet to see the repercussions from. So happy I do not have to deal with constant air travel anymore!
Operating an airline is an incredibly complex endeavor especially when you don’t control many of the variables. Those include: weather, fuel costs (for the most part – I know you can hedge), government regulations, air frame manufacturing capabilities to a degree, a very unionized – almost militant employee base, customers who don’t want to pay for the services provided.
In my opinion UA has done as well as anyone. However, given what I have experienced in years of flying for my company it’s the employee issues that are the biggest obstacle. They have been through a tremendous amount of grief with the benefits taken from them years ago to the pandemic. But I still today get the feeling when flying UA and AA that at least with the FAs and the gate agents its a means to the end for most of them. They do the job solely for the benefits and really could care less about the customer.
But I would not want to take their place. They didn’t sign up to be the COVID mask police or to deal with what has become the normal flyer today and that includes many of my fellow business travelers who are quick to feel important and throw it around.
Bottom line, I am not optimistic given how difficult it is for employees to do their jobs in this environment.
Interesting that Kirby wants to increase customer loyalty but doesn’t utter a word about how he’s making the loyalty program better for customers. Guaranteed 2+ award seats per cabin on every flight? Nope. Low season better prices? That’s a negative, Ghostrider. Increased ways to accumulate miles? Don’t think so. A promise of no devaluations this year? Try again. Once again I contend that Kirby has absolutely no clue about loyalty.
I wonder how much of this and its timing is aimed at Robert Isom at AA as he takes the reins? Ambitious plans no doubt, but I know what went into taking delivery of 2 planes a week and it is a tough task indeed. DL and AA are both telling their employees that their airlines are going to be the biggest and best as well. Let action do the talking.
Hopefully this all works out and comes true!
UA has by far the best route network of any US airline, and that’s the most important thing to have. Now they just need to do all the small things to make customers want to fly United over other airlines. But the foundation is already there.
well, UA just downgraded this platinum member to economy from IAD to LHR on UA924 tonight. Last minute aircraft change announced ˜12 hrs before departure. Had to scramble to spend some avios
Yawn… more words that while perhaps soaring, remain nothing more than the empty promises of the typical grifter. Kelly might even believe his own lies, as narcissists so often do, but under his watch United has become a cruel joke at 30,000 feet. Completely oblivious to passenger wants or needs and more concerned with impressing his penthouse-dwelling neighbors than running anything other than a gutter-level bus with wings, Kelly remains deeply in love with, and committed only to, that decaying face in the mirror…
Polaris was a lot of beautiful promising and the overall result was disappointing.
Proud of the last two years! What a farce, this guy doesn’t even understand the basics of this business and how to take care of the customer. He’s your typical bottom line squeeze a dime of a penny CEO at the expense of everyone BENEATH him.
I sat through a flight recently where the majority of the people around me moaned about how bad the performance, service, meals and overall indigos of the aircraft have plummeted over the last year.
I’ve watched loyal, dedicated people at United get run off by their SO CALLED leadership. It’s become one of the most toxic environments to work in and around in the industry.
United will need a brain and attitude transplant to become even a half decent airline. In three of my last four flights: one delayed because it needed refueling at takeoff time, another delayed because they needed to add water at takeoff time, and a third had a seat in first class labeled defective. All three times these planes had been sitting on the ground at least overnight. No one cared enough to have them flyable on time.
So let me get this straight: You were inconvenienced so that the airline made sure 1. the aircraft had enough fuel, 2. that it had enough water, and that 3. a seat didn’t break in flight, possibly injuring a passenger. You poor deprived child. I’m going to guess that there weren’t crews available to service those planes overnight, or that the seat wasn’t discovered to be defective until boarding. But how terrible for you to have had to wait for the airline to make sure the safety and comfort of passengers came first. It must have been absolutely GHASTLY for you.
Anyone can dream. Kirby is full of himself and loves to dream but when he wales up United is still a laughable airline when compared to others in the world. Keep dreaming Kirby!!!
Blah, blah, blah.
If you don’t even let y0ur customers, including elites, who buy seats for transcontinental Polaris service use your Polaris lounges, when the other legacy lines all offer such lounge access, UA will never be the ‘Best’ airline even in the US, much less the world.
It seems that Kirby is wanting UA to be more like AA but with IFE screens. Things are going to be worse for UA pax. They haven’t even restored Polaris soft product to what was originally promised.
Could not agree more. My dad shares that back in the day flying was an event. He was able to fly firts class on Pan Am, Alitalia and other airlines that were very prestigious at that time. They treated passengers as celebrities. Nowadays they treat passengers as cattle going to the slaughterhouse.
He has a LONG way to go with his third pillar! My wife and I flew to Switzerland on United a few days ago. On each of the four legs of this trip via EWR, we were seated in different raws even though we had a single reservation! When we reached out to customer service and agents at the airport to have them sit us together, we were told that we are unworthy of help because we are flying “basic economy”! It turned out that United segregates its economy customers to ‘basic economy’, ‘economy’, and ‘premium economy’. We were told that to sit together in the EWR-Zurich trip, we needed to upgrade our seats at $195 per seat per way! In addition, the fee is $65 per person per leg for the domestic flight. So basically over $1,00 in fees just so a man and his wife can sit together on this flight! United made sure we are treated very badly because of our “low class”. We wouldn’t ever want to fly United again after this experience.
I call BS on @Maan’s comment. Whenever you book basic economy, either on UA.com or on a third party side like Expedia or Travelocity, they let you know what the restrictions are UP FRONT. You chose to roll the dice and lost. What did you claim ignorance to your wife too when she asked why you too were seated apart?
United has been pushing an ambitious agenda since Kirby came from AA, but they remain firmly behind AA, DL, WN in the domestic market and continue to lose share. Exogenous factors seem to keep these plans on the sidelines or rolled out only in part. I have no expectation that the entire “United Next” plan will ever come to fruition… much more likely, to me, is that it simply becomes a narrowbody fleet renewal program and United is about the same size or perhaps a bit smaller, on the other side of this. To date it’s vapor and with declining macroeconomic factors, I expect it to substantially stay that way.
I’m old enough to remember when flying regular scheduled passenger service was pleasant, and cost effective. Those days are a distant memory. Flying these days feels like an experience to avoided if possible; endured if no alternative available.
I get treated well by United. They are not perfect But I am pretty happy with them. I am 1k though so maybe that’s why, already made 1k for this year.
Scrap Pillars 1, 2 and 4 and start with 3. If you can fix that then there is hope for United and you can move to the next. I guess maybe more planes will delete the more Sr. FA’s that are pulling services in the toilet. There are very good employees at United but alas the really crappy ones pull the airlines down (and their unions). This starts are the counter, goes to the gate and then onboard. I recently traveled RT IAD-LHR in business and the cabin crew were all LHR based, very Sr. and could not give a crap about service or support even simple requests as that would have forced them out of the galley. Start by dumping FA stations like LHR and allow less Sr. Staff to bid on routes. The best service onboard over the last year were very Jr. Staff on Commutair (United Express).
The 4 pillars for them in real life is beating up and dragging passengers off the plane, firing the unvaccinated (without a government mandate), Kirby continuing to suck the Brandon administration’s cawk, and to put out statements like these about how great they are.
As an employee, I’m proud of what Scott Kirby is doing, he’s very foreword thinking, the past two years he’s weather united through the most difficult times, the measure he has taken, not to layover pilots pay off (keeping them active, as you are aware pilots need to be active every 90 days or back to SIM) so while the industry was slowly recovering most of our pilots were active to return to work without causing major cancellation as other major carriers encountered. He may not be the perfect CEO in the world, but he’s very straightforward and honest, so if you don’t believe in his dream for UA, find another job. We still have more work to do, as the saying goes, you have to live in a house to know where it leaks so for you outsider, don’t be so critical of anyone especially these CEO’s in the aviation industry.
I am pretty resistant to corporate BS. Since the Polaris rollout, double so for UA corporate announcements. No one should expect any real information from them. That said, I am not a UA hater. I still like them more than any LCC or AA. Their strength is their route network, which also gets them the corporate contracts (assuming corporate travel comes back). And at least in the last few years, on-time performance. Their hard product is okay. Their weakness is the soft product. Until they have better service and food, they will not be able to command premium fares which should more than pay for the small added expense..
Also, if large corporate business does not come back, especially international, they are going to have to figure out how to sell to the individual and small business flyers that are out there booking trips and which they have tended to drive to the other carriers. And I say that as a 1K.
While I like seeing the bold steps and initiatives Kirby is attempting, the debt load will over tax the airline in the long run. If anything, they’ll quickly surpass AA in that metric in no time. For comparison, AA plans to *only* take on 197 more aircraft in a similar span of time. The tech and product pieces will certainly help them but will only impact marginal costs and drive up premium revenue but will it sustain? It will only be a matter of time before other airlines implement similar strategies as well. Again, I love seeing UA invest in their product like they are and hope they succeed as it will benefit not just them, but the industry as a whole.
“What we haven’t done is take any of the cheese off the pizza. We have invested more in the product….”
Kirby may not have taken the cheese off the pizza, but that pizza they are serving up the equivalent of a $5 Little Caesar’s pizza and passing it off as “premium.” They may have invested in the hard product, but the soft product is nowhere near industry leading. With AA and DL rolling out their own service improvements, UA has done little to nothing in comparison. Maybe a thing here or there, but the premium product is so vastly inconsistent and until they can recognize this and do something to address it, being the biggest and the best is not quite a feat that can be achieved.
I’m always skeptical about comments like being “biggest” and “best” without defining the benchmark metrics. Biggest in what way? The most airplanes? Flights? Destinations? Passengers? ASMs? What defines “best?” DOT complaints vs compliments? On time performance? Profitability?
I do think that Kirby is doing a good job. He has vision, experience, and tenacity. Quite honestly, Covid gave UA a unique opportunity to shed a lot of the lingering problems from the merger 11 years ago and get a clean start. As many of you noted, employees had been through a lot…and much of it wasn’t good. They were jaded and angry because so much had been taken away, especially the fun that used to be part of their jobs. Their former pride had turned to embarrassment. I was one of those people, and I left UA a number of years ago to start a new career. Many others wanted to leave, but they had to continue because they no longer had the money to retire and they couldn’t find another job at their age that would pay more. Unhappy employees are unlikely to provide good service. With Covid, UA was able to offer exit packages that were financially attractive to their most senior (and unhappy) people. They are now able to hire a new team that isn’t bridled with the problems of the past. And that new team is coming in at entry level which is a HUGE cost savings.
In my new career I travel a lot, and I have the choice of any airline when I fly. I was excited to try the other airlines. Guess what… they were no better, and were generally worse. I now prefer to fly UA as a paying passenger. Are they perfect? No. But they seem to be on the right track. My friends who are still at UA like Scott. More importantly, they respect him and are enthusiastic about his plan for improvement vs the aimless malaise that followed the merger. I still want Kirby to define his measuring stick for “biggest and best,” but I’m anxious to see how this plays out.
Nowhere in any of that is any mention of taking care of the company’s most valuable asset – its employees. That lesson was lost completely in the merger with Continental, and has never been reinstated. Customer service is awful, work groups are disgruntled and all we ever heard was profit above all. This just sounds like more of the same claptrap that was being peddled during and since the merger. There will have to be some major changes in employee / management relations before they can progress at all. That hasn’t happened since the merger.
I left Untied during the covid flap as well, after being reminded constantly during the months prior that we older employees were no longer wanted or needed, which was verbally stated to me by the HR rep who processed me out.. The company lost much of its experience and dedication then, and they will be hard put in the future to replace it. I wish them luck, but I’m not holding my breath that Untied will ever be the biggest and baddest.
You are absolutely correct about the need to prioritize employees first. If Scott wants to be the best airline, he has to make his people feel like they are the best. That goes beyond words. It requires action. The equation is very simple:
happy employees = happy customers
Want to be the number one airline? Start with excellent customer service, the other three pillars will build themselves.
Wow, these comments are something! Majority are garbage know it alls, but something none the less. I’m no United lover but can appreciate effort when I see it in a cut-throat environment such as the US airline industry. The same people screaming about how bad everything is from a customer experience perspective would not spend a dime more for a better experience if offered, and that is and has always been the problem for US carriers (remember MRTC on AA?).
…and he misses AGAIN.
The FIRST pillar should ALWAYS be first and foremost the CUSTOMER, not third. Everything about this industry is people who place their trust in your care. Never mind your pipe dreams about where the airline will be, take care of the clients you have NOW.
UA is a joke. You can’t be world class with the product they offer. Am burning my Mileage Plus miles and, at some point, may just abandon them. Anyone need any?
Well this will NEVER come to fruition Scotty. As outlined, clearly your priorities are misaligned. CUSTOMERS & CUSTOMER SERVICE should be #1, not #3. Until you, and every other management team believe it and put that into action, nothing will improve. GET REAL.
It’s hard to take an airline seriously, that photoshops a Boeing 767 with 737 winglets on…upside down. Really hard. Because that shows they believe that their potential customers are stupid.
It’s hard to take an airline seriously, that photoshops a Boeing 767 with 737 winglets on…upside down. Really hard. Because that shows they believe that their potential customers are stupid.
It’s hard to take an airline seriously, that photoshops a Boeing 767 with 737 winglets on…upside down. Really hard. Because that shows they believe that their potential customers are stupid.
To enhance ego and ever larger payouts, American executives suffer the delusion that “bigger is better”. All one has to do is look at the annual “best International and US airlines” ratings to see this is not so.
Until United can understand the European/Asian concept of customer service, United will never be counted among our better airlines. But BIGGER they can do!