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Home » United Airlines » How United Reclaimed Its Rank As World’s #2 Airline
United Airlines

How United Reclaimed Its Rank As World’s #2 Airline

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 12, 2019November 14, 2023 13 Comments

a white airplane on a runway

By at least one measure, United has surpassed Delta as world’s second largest airline.

Under Scott Kirby’s leadership, United has been in expansion mode for the last year. Denver is expanding. Houston is expanding. Chicago is expanding. In fact, there’s growth at each hub and a concerted effort to re-capture domestic market share ceded during the Smisek regime.

As I’ve written about before, United is expanding by up to 6% per year. That has certainly given some analysts pause, but if United’s stock price is any indication most investors seem to be onboard with the program.

> Read More: United Airlines Gambles on Increased Capacity

In 2018, United recorded 230.2 billion revenue passenger miles. That figure is a multiplication of number of passengers times distance flown. That narrowly edged out Delta’s 225.2 billion. Delta had edged out United for the #2 spot in 2015 and maintained it the last three years.

Of course United downplays that size matters. Spokesperson Megan McCarthy told Bloomberg:

Our goal is not to be the biggest. We want to be the best and as we implement our strategy, we are looking to build on this momentum in 2019.

And we can all cheer to that. But it merits mentioning that being the best requires having a robust network that not only serves many destinations, but serves them smartly. United has made progress toward this goal.

> Read More: Analyzing United’s “Historic” Expansion At SFO

CONCLUSION

Just like in U.S. presidential elections, part of the fun is tracking the horse race. It was only four months ago that I wrote about how United had surpassed American in another metric. Then, I wrote:

How do you measure how big an airline is? Profit? Share price? Passengers traffic?

That’s still a point of debate, but the direction is clear: United is rising.

United reclaimed its position as world’s second largest airline by growth, growth, and more growth. But to go back to McCarthy’s point, it will only be best by providing great service with its great route network.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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13 Comments

  1. UA sucks Reply
    January 12, 2019 at 1:03 pm

    #1 worst airline though

    • All person opinion Reply
      September 17, 2019 at 12:48 am

      Shouldn’t be expanding then. Should be going out of business and every should fly else where then right?? Makes no sense, just because you had some bad experiences everyone might not think that obviously. Criticism like this is opinion and person experience.

  2. Danilo D. Decena Reply
    January 12, 2019 at 1:20 pm

    Hi Matthew,

    Like you, J am an avid traveler, which started when I was 22 yo. I am now in my early 70s, retired investment banker and US Treasury official. I am bicoastal and with my spouse live in Ashland, Oregon and Washington DC. With friends, we targeted visiting 100 countries. I have surpassed that. We only count countries that are UN members. There is some vagueness as I was in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia before the fall of Communism and have not counted territories like Guam, PR and VI.

    My spouse and I are Premier 1K soon to be 2K with United. At any rate, your recommendation for my next 25 countries to visit would be appreciated. We ate due to visit the 5 Stans in Central Asia this summer.

    I can share you interesting anecdotes in my travels.

    Life is a journey!!

    Thanks,

    Dan Decena

    • Matthew Reply
      January 12, 2019 at 1:49 pm

      What a pleasure and honor it is to travel. Thanks for your comment Don. I would love to chat sometime.

  3. Emanuel De Rothschild Reply
    January 12, 2019 at 1:30 pm

    Nothing far from the truth Asian airlines are ABSOLUTELY THE BEST United it is a vomit in it self

  4. Scotsch Kirby Reply
    January 12, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    Scott Kirby’s leadership? Holy $hit Matt, in all the years Ive been in the industry never have I seen someone with their head SO FAR up someone’s backside.

    • Matthew Reply
      January 12, 2019 at 2:06 pm

      Love him or hate him, his work is paying off. I despise his bean-counter mentality when it comes to in-flight service, but I love that he is aggressive in network expansion.

      • Arthur Reply
        January 13, 2019 at 8:08 am

        UA competes on the basis of its route network and – usually – pricing. It does not compete on quality.

  5. Steve Reply
    January 12, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    While United edges out Delta in both network size and business lounge experience, I still have to say Delta usually has a better crew and hub cities for connections. I do hope United keeps improving their crew, like they have been for the past year. Until than, it’s hard to enjoy a United flight when most of the employees are less then enjoyable to interact with.

  6. derek Reply
    January 12, 2019 at 2:19 pm

    CONCLUSION

    Just like in U.S. presidential elections, part of the fun is tracking the horse race.
    —
    So United is Trump and American is Pelosi??? ha ha

    Air Belgium is Hillary. Still alive but uncertain.

    Pan Am was George H. W. Bush, both dead.

    Express Jet is Ted Cruz, not remembered much and still working.

  7. mark post Reply
    January 12, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    Matt you are a fucking moron if you believe United is one of the WORLDS BEST airlines!!! United is complete garbage. How much did they pay you to write this BS article???

  8. Maria Reply
    January 13, 2019 at 5:39 am

    United is the worst airline!! They cancel your flight and don’t make it easy for you to rebook. Over the holidays we’ve had 2 out of 3 flights cancelled.

  9. henry LAX Reply
    January 15, 2019 at 4:21 pm

    DL is a loser every time they need to actually need compete with anyone – they’re #2 in SEA, LAX, and NYC. Same story with AA – they’re #2 in ORD and #4 in NYC.

    And DL+UA says thank you to AA every day for handing over TLV market (for the quite a bit of the foreseeable future) on a silver platter. Trying to save $5 in TWA liabilities and costing the company god knows how much in the decades ensuing.

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