Don't Expect United Airlines to Snap Up Smaller Carriers -- WSJ

Dow Jones

May 28

By Alison Sider

United CEO Scott Kirby batted down speculation that his airline would buy JetBlue. United has a partnership with JetBlue that gives it access to slots at New York's JFK International Airport, but Kirby said it was "mathematically impossible" for United to boost JetBlue's margins enough for a merger to be worthwhile.

"The last thing I'm going to do is buy a route network that loses money," Kirby said Wednesday at an investor conference. "I never understood why everyone thought we were going to do it."

The only deal Kirby said would make financial sense is one that seems off the table. United has pursued a merger with American Airlines-a much bigger undertaking that Kirby has argued would be transformational, even though industry officials have said it would be tough to get past antitrust enforcers.

But American rejected United's overtures and President Trump didn't like the idea. Without a willing partner, Kirby doesn't see a path forward. "I don't think that United at least is going to participate in any consolidation for any time that I can see in the foreseeable future," he said.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 27, 2026 17:33 ET (21:33 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  May 27, 2026 17:33 ET (21:33 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>","source":null,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Don't Expect United Airlines to Snap Up Smaller Carriers -- WSJ</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nDon't Expect United Airlines to Snap Up Smaller Carriers -- WSJ\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n<div class=\"head\" \">\n\n\n<div class=\"h-thumb\" style=\"background-image:url(https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99);background-size:cover;\"></div>\n\n<div class=\"h-content\">\n<p class=\"h-name\">Dow Jones </p>\n<p class=\"h-time\">2026-05-28 05:33</p>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<font class=\"NormalMinus1\" face=\"Arial\">\n<p>\n       By Alison Sider \n</p>\n<p>\n     United CEO Scott Kirby batted down speculation that his airline would buy JetBlue. United has a partnership with JetBlue that gives it access to slots at New York's JFK International Airport, but Kirby said it was \"mathematically impossible\" for United to boost JetBlue's margins enough for a merger to be worthwhile. \n</p>\n<p>\n     \"The last thing I'm going to do is buy a route network that loses money,\" Kirby said Wednesday at an investor conference. \"I never understood why everyone thought we were going to do it.\" \n</p>\n<p>\n     The only deal Kirby said would make financial sense is one that seems off the table. United has pursued a merger with American Airlines-a much bigger undertaking that Kirby has argued would be transformational, even though industry officials have said it would be tough to get past antitrust enforcers. \n</p>\n<p>\n     But American rejected United's overtures and President Trump didn't like the idea. 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The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  May 27, 2026 17:33 ET (21:33 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"BK4508","symbol_name":"社交媒体","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://dowjonesnews.com/newdjn/logon.aspx?AL=N","article_id":"2638463150","we_media_id":"106","thumbnails":[],"rights":null,"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2638463150","pubTimestamp":1779917580,"columns":[],"sourceInfo":null,"weMediaInfo":{"media_name":"Dow Jones","introduction":"Dow Jones publishes the world’s most trusted business news and financial information in a variety of media.","home_visible":0,"id":"106","head_image":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99"},"summary":"United CEO Scott Kirby batted down speculation that his airline would buy JetBlue. 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