On Monday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby released a press statement explaining he was responsible for approaching American Airlines concerning the possible merger of the two carriers; an idea that American refused.
“Over the last two weeks, there’s been a lot of commentary about a potential merger between United Airlines and American Airlines. And to be direct, I approached American about exploring a combination because I thought we could do something incredible for customers together,” Kirby said.
“I was confident that this combination, which would have been about adding and not subtracting; creating a truly great airline that customers love, could get regulatory approval.”
News of the proposed merger between United and American first emerged nearly two weeks ago when the news was in media that Kirby had spoken to senior White House officials, and potentially even President Trump himself, about the proposal.
He said that American declined to engage in merger talks with United and that American responded by “publicly closing the door.”
American dismissed the idea of talks with United, saying in an April 17 statement that it is “not engaged with or interested” in any merger discussions.
Last week, American CEO Robert Isom said a merger with United would have been bad for all parties involved. He told investors during a conference call that the idea of the two largest airlines in the world getting together was
“something that we’ve viewed as being anti-competitive and obviously everybody that has weighed in suggests the same thing. … It’s bad for customers, bad for the industry and ultimately, that would be bad for American Airlines.”
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby:
In his statement today, Scott Kirby advocated why the merger would have been successful, stating,
“In the past, airline mergers usually have been about two struggling airlines coming together to cut costs, flights, and headcount. My aspirations could not be more different."
" The bold idea I wanted to pursue was about growth that would usher in a brand-new era of leadership by U.S. aviation. By combining our airlines and using that scale to revolutionize our customers’ experience, we’d create a new, thriving U.S. airline that would be the very best in the world for customers.”
Further to that, the United CEO also added that the merge would have boosted the US economy, created millions of jobs and revitalized and strengthened the U.S. aircraft manufacturing industry.
“America is stronger when US carriers flow more of the dollars of US consumers to communities, employees, and manufacturing right here at home. A combined company would have created tens of thousands of new high paying, unionized jobs with great benefits which would have led to even more career growth opportunities for the 250,000 employees already at United and American,” Kirby said.
“Plus, the combined airline’s need for new aircraft would have supported American manufacturing and domestic supply chains and driven even more job creation. And by flying more seats to more places in the US, this merger would boost local tourism and business travel, generating billions of dollars in U.S. economic activity and even more jobs.”
On the development, Lawmakers were quick to criticize the potential of a United-American combination. In a letter to the airline CEOs last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said such a move would weaken industry competition and harm consumers.
United Airlines is based at Newark Liberty International Airport, operating 70% of flights and acting as a major regional economic driver. The carrier employs over 14,000 people in the Newark/New York area, including more than 3,000 pilots and 5,700 flight attendants.
You may like to read......
.jpg)
.jpg)
