Tag Archives for merger.
Scott Kirby says United is not buying American Airlines or JetBlue — and calls a JetBlue deal “mathematically not doable.” But a bankruptcy scenario, recently floated by JetBlue’s founder, would change the math.
Robert Isom addressed the airline deal rumors employees were already talking about internally: United, Alaska and Spirit. United is a hard no, Alaska is the partnership American wants to expand, and Spirit is not a fit — though American would consider assets and stranded passengers.
United CEO Scott Kirby did not just admit he tried to buy American Airlines — he published the sales pitch after American had already said no. That is not how companies usually talk about dead deals, and the real audience now is what’s interesting about the message.
American Airlines says it is not in merger talks with United, but its carefully worded response does more than just shut down one specific rumor. By backing broader airline consolidation while ruling out a United deal, American appears to be drawing a line against the merger it cannot survive politically while leaving open the possibility of other combinations that might better fit both antitrust realities and the Trump administration’s dealmaking instincts.
Democrats in Congress are warning that even if the Trump administration allowed a United-American merger to happen, a future administration could still try to unwind it after the fact. That turns any deal into something far messier than a normal merger fight, because approval would not necessarily end the legal and political risk.
A United takeover would be terrible for competition, but it could solve the problem that has defined American Airlines for more than a decade: the carrier still acts like a high-cost airline trying to compete with Spirit and Frontier instead of leaning into the premium strengths of its network, people, and loyalty program. That is why American has so often underused great assets, underinvested in product, and struggled to tell employees and customers what kind of airline it actually wants to be.
Scott Kirby has reportedly pitched regulators on the idea of buying American Airlines, turning one of the strangest what-ifs in the industry into something at least serious enough to discuss in Washington. What makes the idea impossible to ignore is the backstory: Kirby was fired as American’s president, and a United takeover of the airline that cast him out would be the ultimate revenge deal — even if it would almost certainly trigger one of the fiercest antitrust fights aviation has ever seen.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he is open to airline mergers and framed the issue in unmistakably political terms, saying President Trump “loves to see big deals happen.” He’s signaling that the administration is more open to consolidation than the last one, and speculation abounds over what happens to Spirit Airlines and especially JetBlue.
JetBlue is reportedly exploring a sale to another airline, with advisors evaluating how deals with United, Southwest or Alaska might fare in Washington. Any buyer would face antitrust scrutiny, but the fact that JetBlue is actively gaming out a sale shows how high the stakes have become for the airline’s turnaround.
Airline mergers may be back on the table — but the surprising green light could come from an $85 billion railroad deal. J.P. Morgan’s latest note explains why the next two years could decide who ends up buying JetBlue.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
