United approached American about merger

United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby said Monday that he privately approached American Airlines about a merger, and American declined. (cnbc.com) (united.mediaroom.com) Kirby said he contacted American because he thought the two carriers could “do something incredible for customers together” and build a larger U.S. airline to compete with foreign rivals. (united.mediaroom.com) (cnbc.com) He said he believed the combination could win regulatory approval, but added that “without a willing partner, something this big simply can’t get done.” (united.mediaroom.com) (cnbc.com) American had already shut the door publicly. Last week, Chief Executive Robert Isom told CNBC that merging United and American was “a nonstarter from the get-go” and “bad for customers.” (cnbc.com) That matters because United and American are the two largest airlines in the world by some measures, and any tie-up would redraw the U.S. airline map. Isom said there was “no way to view that as anything but anticompetitive.” (cnbc.com) The politics were already moving against Kirby’s idea. President Donald Trump said on CNBC last Tuesday, April 21, that he did not want United and American to merge. (cnbc.com) (usnews.com) Recent antitrust history also points the same way. The U.S. Justice Department sued in March 2023 to block JetBlue’s proposed acquisition of Spirit, arguing the deal would reduce competition. (justice.gov) Kirby said Monday that American’s response means a merger is “off the table for the foreseeable future,” even as he used his statement to argue that bigger scale could bring more routes, technology and loyalty benefits. (united.mediaroom.com) For now, the story is less a live deal than a public account of a failed pitch: United asked, American said no, and Washington was already signaling resistance. (cnbc.com)