By Jacob Passy

United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby said flying out of Newark this summer will be a bargain -- much to his chagrin.

Kirby made his latest stop on the redemption tour for Newark Liberty International Airport at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything event Thursday. In an onstage interview, he discussed the airline's new partnership with rival JetBlue and what the aircraft of the future will look like. But the challenges at the New Jersey hub, which he described as United's "crown jewel," remained top of mind.

To coax people to book, United has slashed fares. Flying out of Newark this summer is "going to be the cheapest it's probably ever going to be in history," Kirby said.

"I don't really like that, but you ought to book," he said. With more empty seats, "prices are lower than they otherwise would be."

A series of technology outages and staffing shortages have snarled air traffic at Newark in recent weeks. It hasn't helped that some air-traffic controllers warned that it was unsafe.

That has led some travelers to rethink flying out of Newark, worsening the airport's already spotty reputation among many jet-setters when compared with the nearby LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports. "The media storm caused people to book away," Kirby said.

"This has been a huge perception issue," he said. "Newark is safe."

United's load factors out of Newark were down 15 percentage points for a couple of weeks following the initial disruptions, he said. They have rebounded mostly, with the passenger capacity only down three points for June.

The drop in bookings out of Newark and prices has hurt United's bottom line: Kirby projected that earnings per share would have hit the top end of the airline's guidance for the current quarter if not for Newark's recent troubles.

Kirby said the air-traffic challenges weren't unique to the airport, citing the need for technology upgrades and boosted staffing across the country's air-traffic control operations. He commended the Trump administration's efforts to tackle these issues, including the Federal Aviation Administration's recent move to limit the number of flights out of Newark.

"That is the only thing we needed at Newark to make it a great airport," he said, adding that the projected completion of runway construction at the airport next month would also improve operations. He projected that Newark's on-time performance would exceed that of LaGuardia and JFK.

Reaching customers who prefer flying out of LaGuardia and JFK was a motivating factor behind United's decision to partner with JetBlue this week. Under the deal, United will get access to slots for as many as seven daily round-trip flights at JFK as early as 2027.

The deal also will allow the two airlines' customers to earn and spend frequent-flier miles and access status-related perks across both carriers. The two companies will promote flights on each other's websites.

Such an arrangement was more appealing than a merger, Kirby said. JetBlue previously had a partnership with American Airlines and attempted to merge with Spirit Airlines.

"There's a lot of brain damage that goes with doing a merger, and so I'm reluctant to do a merger," he said.

Write to Jacob Passy at jacob.passy@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2025 14:31 ET (18:31 GMT)

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