United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was in Houston yesterday voicing a recurring theme, asserting that United is a “three-year-old startup embedded in a 98-year-old airline.” What does he mean and is he correct?
United Airlines, The 2020 “Startup” Carrier
Speaking to both members of the media and local Houston officials and later to employees, Kirby argued that although United is approaching its centennial birthday, it is really an airline that was reborn during the pandemic.
The premise of Kirby’s claim is that every airline faced a critical decision in 2020 as to how to address the pandemic. It was United, reasons Kirby, and only United, that wagered correctly that retiring aircraft and planning for a permanent fleet reduction was shortsighted:
“United was literally the only airline in the world that got COVID right. We were the only ones who fully believed that COVID would be ugly but travel would return.”
Kirby reasoned that becuase “travel is about human nature” it was bound to bounce back and on that basis, “We made big bets.”
Those bets included not just deferring aircraft retirements, but placing the largest order in commercial aircraft history with plans for rapid expansion over the next decade with a fleet plan nevertheless nimble enough to deal with an economic downturn or another pandemic-like event by delaying or accelerating aircraft retirement.
Kirby stressed the investment in new aircraft, the United Next program to retrofit existing narrow body aircraft, its Polaris retrofit completion, investments in lounges and airports, and its technological investment to make the case that it properly bet on the pandemic while its competitors did not.
As United’s fleet and route map has grown, it is now the largest carrier in the world by certain metrics and Kirby claimed the mantle of biggest…and best.
“I think we’re the best but there is many things we can still do better.
“It is an understatement to say we are the best airline in the history of aviation. We will be in a whole other league…”
That has been Kirby’s language for over a year now.
There is no doubt that the pandemic ushered in a new era for United and the carrier has changed quite substantially in some ways since March 2020. On the other hand, the victory lap remains immature.
As I just experienced on the A321neo, United can offer a highly competitive and arguably industry-leading product in economy class (perhaps JetBlue still wins that award, but JetBlue is losing money…). Its international route network is unparalleled and just about everything about the onboard product, particularly the wi-fi and the catering, has nicely improved this year from last year.
Behind the scenes, United has indeed made critical investments in technology like its industry-leading mobile app, Connection Saver, and even things customers never see like the new baggage system at Houston that I saw yesterday and will share about next week.
But being a leading airline of the world will still require a relentless focus on service, investment in the soft product, and a loyalty program that remains highly competitive. Those items remain a work in progress.
CONCLUSION
Kirby claims United is a “three-year-old startup embedded in a 98-year-old airline” and there is some truth to that statement. United has bet big on growth over the next decade: the question will be whether this bold gamble pays off handsomely or whether there is a ceiling of demand that we are already close to hitting. As United approaches its 100th birthday, it will be fun to watch.
Mission Accomplished!
Ladies and gentlemen, we got ‘im!
Somehow I doubt this is the real Kirby as there was only a smattering of superlatives.
We will never lose money again.
The corporate hubris is unbelievable, made worse by Matthew’s weekly praise. It’s true UA’s network is superior, especially the long haul, direct flights to interesting destination. Aside from this, let’s be real. The A321 Neo is the most dense configuration relative to other carriers – hardly passenger friendly. The hard product is just now catching up to Delta’s, but what is light years away is the service culture. United’s service is incredibly inconsistent and aloof. I beg to differ that catering has improved “nicely”. It’s the bare minimum and clearly isn’t a priority for United who would rather invest in ingenuine and tone-deaf marketing and CEO victory laps – Good leads the way!
Perfectly said !
Lmao.
Also, the shape of his mouth in that pic even looks like Trump’s. haha.
Kirby is a total joke. The things he tells makes me wonder if sometimes he is even real. And BTW, if he calls UA a start up, he has made all the stupid mistakes most startup CEOs make. His ego is way beyond his head.
As someone whose worked in a several startups in my youth, I find the terminology painful. All of the ones I worked in failed and I would have been better off at a more established place. Even when the startups succeed, they become sweatshops promising great stock options, but they quietly engage in massive turnover much like the WWII B29 fighters who were promised they only had to complete 10 missions, but the average survivability of a B29 was 5 missions or something such as that.
That being said, certainly CEO’s should make good calls on managing risk and assessing industry directions aside from golfing and playing with org charts. Can’t we just replace them with chatgpt and a golf machine? 🙂
You gotta love it when Kirby pulls out a quote like this that would make Dan Quayle cringe. Kirby just desperately needs to go back to his zone of competence by running a regional ULCC.
Cringeworthy, just like United’s food and EWR reliability.
Lmao!
Oh my lord thanks for the laugh.
We will see. I”ll give him that.
Kirby should do more doing, and way less saying. a lot less.
EWR is a shithole and the A321 is a sardine can.
Glad the airline pulled through, but the catering department did not survive COVID.
Is Kirby going to be hit with a RICO ACT for USAIRWAYS Stock Push & Dump?
@ Matthew — Scott Kirby is a deranged lunatic in a 3-year old’s body.
Another hackneyed business phrase from another CEO of a major company pretending he actually knows startups or the one could “live inside” his/her company.
He has no idea what a startup does or is or what makes them successful or not.
“Got COVID right”? I think the pilots that made the decision not to get vaccinated would differ.
SBF speak. End of…
UA operations out of EWR are a joke! Total and utter incompetence. They keep touting their Next interior, which is still many years away (how many widebodies still have Fauxlaris, 8 years after Polaris was announced!!!???), and what you get instead are 737s that went into service with People Distress back in the 80s and are still rocking the original cabin interiors, with chunks literally falling off inside and condensation dripping onto you….
While they have to be more competitive at LAX, at fortress hubs like EWR, we the passengers DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE and have to deal with horrendous scheduling (please don’t have 47 United Express ERJ flights to DCA per day and then complain that there are too many scheduled flights at a constrained airport!) , bags that routinely take at least 45min-1h to come out, dilapidated terminals with crappy OTG experience, canceled flights (after being first delayed for 30min, then 1h, then 2, then 4), etc. Heck, even Kirby doesn’t want to fly United out of EWR!
Kirby literally destroyed American, and is now in the process of doing the same to United. I’m sorry, but that cheap America West mentality and that level of hypocrisy combined with hubris just don’t cut it! Nothing more than Jeff Smisek all over again, unfortunately…