Some people don’t know how to just let dreams die. Despite American Airlines bluntly rejecting the notion of a merger, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby went out of his way earlier this week to explain why this mega merger would be good for customers, the general public, and the American economy. Now, no one should be wooed into believing that the world’s two largest airlines would be good for anyone except the executives cutting the deal. Kirby might as well be a high schooler standing outside his crush’s bedroom window with a boombox, desperate for attention.
Kirby’s pitch is centered on providing value to customers. Although he lingers on the nostalgic idea that a U.S. airline should be setting the industry standard. The executive doesn’t think his super-carrier should be gifted this position by the grace of the Stars and Stripes, but flying the newest planes with state-of-the-art amenities to more destinations. Kirby wants this merged airline to be the best option for any customer, whether they be in “Des Moines or Dubai,” a subtle jab at the Gulf carriers that are currently the gold standard. He conveniently omits the fact that the federal government strictly regulated commercial aviation during the industry’s golden age.
New planes, more employees and no price hikes is too good to be true
While a fleet of potentially hundreds of new planes sounds tempting, someone is going to have to pay for it and most of us have to fly places on a budget. Kirby claimed, “We wouldn’t propose a combination that would cause prices to rise for customers.” He added that United’s 2025 ticket prices were 29% cheaper than pre-pandemic prices, when adjusted for inflation. It would be nice if everyone’s wages were pegged to inflation, too. Why should we trust him? In any typical marketplace, prices will rise if there are fewer competitors. When JetBlue attempted to acquire Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion in 2023, its own internal analysis found that ticket prices would have risen by 30% just by removing Spirit from the market. Imagine this same scenario with the first and second-largest airlines instead of the sixth and eighth.
Kirby’s most outlandish notice is that a merged United-American would have even more employees than each airline has right now. He projected that the new company would have “created tens of thousands of new high-paying, unionized jobs with great benefits” on top of the existing 250,000-person workforce. As competitors on a majority of routes, the only way this merger strategy would have been even feasible is if every plane removed from an existing route were assigned to a brand-new service. He asserted that the airline itself would become a driver of tourism, creating billions of dollars in economic activity. This is a business plan on the verge of becoming fan fiction.
