After talk about a potential merger between United Airlines and one of its biggest competitors was dismissed as bad for consumers, United CEO Scott Kirby says he’s still looking at ways to build up the airline.
Kirby had previously made comments about United and American Airlines merging in order to create arguably the most dominant airline on the planet—a proposal that was promptly dismissed by American Airlines leadership for being bad for both consumers and the industry itself.
The idea of a potential merger between two of the nation’s most prominent airlines was first floated by Kirby during a meeting with President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, both of whom would’ve needed to be involved in the negotiations to navigate a potential minefield of antitrust issues.
While dismissed by American with seemingly little second thought, Kirby is apparently still interested in doing something to shore up United’s weaknesses and increase its industry presence.
Appearing on CNN’s “Quest Means Business” with Richard Quest, Kirby discussed the rejected merger idea and what he thinks will be the airline’s next strategic move—this time involving a fellow airline it knows well.
Last year, United and JetBlue announced a partnership and co-branding called “Blue Sky,” a shared loyalty program that allows passengers to earn and use miles accumulated on either airline, get more flight options by tapping in to both airline’s service offerings, and take advantage of acquired loyalty status by receiving reciprocal perks on either airline.
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When asked by Quest if Kirby wanted to expand the partnership further, the United Airlines CEO gave a candid reply.
“Yes, I do,” Kirby said. “I mean, I really respect JetBlue. I think [JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty] is great. I like her personally. I think she’s been a great CEO. They got a tough hand of cards, but they’re playing them as well as they can.”
He added that he believed JetBlue has a great company culture and “customer DNA” that is similar to United.
“When you’ve got that same customer DNA,” he said, “that’s where you can do a lot of good stuff together.”
He stopped short of pitching another potential merger between his airline and another, but added that he would like United and JetBlue to do “as much as we can together, and see how far we can take” the partnership without bringing both under the same umbrella.
Why United Airlines doesn’t want a merger with JetBlue
Last month, Kirby called the idea of a merger between United and JetBlue “idiotic” and “mathematically not doable.”
Online airline travel publication Live and Let’s Fly agreed that United buying or merging with JetBlue didn’t make financial sense at the time due to the budget airline’s financial struggles and the tedium of having to integrate the company.
If Kirby were interested in a deal with JetBlue, it would likely be to get a better foothold at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the busiest airport in New York.
“United wants access to JFK and more relevance in New York beyond Newark,” Matthew Klint of Live and Let’s Fly wrote at the time. “It is chasing premium customers and likes JetBlue’s brand reputation and East Coast customer base.”
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United currently doesn’t have a presence at JFK, and instead is a major player at the nearby Newark Liberty International Airport, which Klint says is not as desirable and fraught with more operational challenges.
With the current partnership arrangement with JetBlue, United is already getting some increased access in the Northeast, so it makes sense that Kirby would want to get more out of the relationship and doesn’t need a merger to do so.
Instead, the “Sky Blue” partnership could evolve in other ways, although it remains to be seen exactly how.
