United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby on calculated bets and building a US flag carrier

You wrote a piece about your rationale for approaching

American.

Why did you decide to show your hand?

Like everything I'm doing at United Airlines, everything that I think about is how do we make a great airline for customers? And I am 100% certain that that merger would be good for customers.

So

is the reason you're still talking about a deal that at the moment you don't have a partner for because you're trying to put pressure on that partner and create the...

No, the reason I'm talking about it is because you asked me.

I'm not talking about it on my own.

Today on The CEO Signal, we're talking to Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, one of the world's largest carriers.

Kirby built his career as a numbers guy in the airline business.

And he likes big bets.

He took over at the height of the pandemic and ordered hundreds of new planes when much of the industry was pulling back.

Now he's spending heavily on customer experience.

His goal is to make people actively want to fly United rather than just choose their flight based on price and timing.

And he's also been looking at an even bigger move.

This year, he tried to open merger talks with American and Delta.

They both said no.

So how does Scott Kirby decide what's worth betting on, especially when the odds are long and the stakes are high? From Semaphore, this is The CEO Signals.

Good to see you, Penny, and great to be back in your hometown of Chicago.

So glad to have you here.

And we're here at United's headquarters.

Yeah, very appropriate setting for our conversation with Scott Kirby.

And he's a pretty interesting CEO.

We're catching him at a very interesting time for United.

Yes, he's been three decades in the airline industry.

I think he was at America West, American, and now at United.

And I think he was fired from American, but joined United about 10 years ago and became CEO in 2020.

And

Scott Kirby is a math guy who's got a deeply analytical background, but that gives him a fascinating relationship with risk, including his past career playing blackjack where he got good enough to be banned from several casinos.

I want to hear from him about how he takes calculated risks in the CEO's position.

I really also want to understand how does he deal with making decisions and choices so far in advance from when you ultimately get your equipment?

And he's just taken one of his biggest gambles to date, where he made overtures to American Airlines, his old employer, about a possible merger.

American wasn't interested.

That seems to have gone nowhere.

There was subsequent reporting that he also broached a deal with Delta Airlines.

So he has got some pretty ambitious plans for consolidating this industry.

I want to hear whether there's anything still going on those, whether he still has hopes of getting greater scale for United.

So I think it's going to be a fascinating conversation.

Let's invite him in.

You wrote a piece about your rationale for approaching

American.

Why did you decide to show your hand?

Like everything I'm doing at United Airlines, everything that I think about is how do we make a great airline for customers? And I am 100% certain that that merger would be good for customers.

So

is the reason you're still talking about a deal that at the moment you don't have a partner for because you're trying to put pressure on that partner and create the...

No, the reason I'm talking about it is because you asked me.

I'm not talking about it on my own.

Today on The CEO Signal, we're talking to Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, one of the world's largest carriers.

Kirby built his career as a numbers guy in the airline business.

And he likes big bets.

He took over at the height of the pandemic and ordered hundreds of new planes when much of the industry was pulling back.

Now he's spending heavily on customer experience.

His goal is to make people actively want to fly United rather than just choose their flight based on price and timing.

And he's also been looking at an even bigger move.

This year, he tried to open merger talks with American and Delta.

They both said no.

So how does Scott Kirby decide what's worth betting on, especially when the odds are long and the stakes are high? From Semaphore, this is The CEO Signals.

Good to see you, Penny, and great to be back in your hometown of Chicago.

So glad to have you here.

And we're here at United's headquarters.

Yeah, very appropriate setting for our conversation with Scott Kirby.

And he's a pretty interesting CEO.

We're catching him at a very interesting time for United.

Yes, he's been three decades in the airline industry.

I think he was at America West, American, and now at United.

And I think he was fired from American, but joined United about 10 years ago and became CEO in 2020.

And

Scott Kirby is a math guy who's got a deeply analytical background, but that gives him a fascinating relationship with risk, including his past career playing blackjack where he got good enough to be banned from several casinos.

I want to hear from him about how he takes calculated risks in the CEO's position.

I really also want to understand how does he deal with making decisions and choices so far in advance from when you ultimately get your equipment?

And he's just taken one of his biggest gambles to date, where he made overtures to American Airlines, his old employer, about a possible merger.

American wasn't interested.

That seems to have gone nowhere.

There was subsequent reporting that he also broached a deal with Delta Airlines.

So he has got some pretty ambitious plans for consolidating this industry.

I want to hear whether there's anything still going on those, whether he still has hopes of getting greater scale for United.

So I think it's going to be a fascinating conversation.

Let's invite him in.