United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby spoke at the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference 2025 earlier this week and had some interesting comments regarding a possible merger with JetBlue. This is the most concrete evidence we’ve seen that supports our earlier reporting on a potential merger from earlier this year.
You can read the full transcript from the discussion here but Kirby comes across as extremely candid in his response to a question regarding the possibility of a merger. The reporter even hinted at that stating, “you’re the only CEO that may give us a somewhat direct answer to this question, which is…excluding Spirit and Frontier, will we see or and or do we need more industry consolidation? And does United play a role in it?”
I’ve got to give credit to Scott Kirby here as this is the type of question that would normally receive a non-response response. Kirby’s answer gave a surprising level of detail. An excerpt from his response is below:
“We have a great plant that is working and mergers are so hard. They’re disruptive. Your technology team spends two years on the sideline just integrating like I bet a lot of you use the United app. I bet you all think it’s the best app in the world in airlines because it is. Like that kind of investment just gets harder to do. We got some super cool stuff coming for customers this year. That stuff just gets harder and harder to do.
And at United, well, when the business based business plan is working, like the hurdle to go do it, we don’t need a deal for sure. The hurdle to go do a deal gets a whole lot higher. That said, at least at United, I would like to have a bigger I’d like to have a presence on the other side of the river at JFK. But man, all the headache, all the brain damage of buying a whole airline to get that, that’s a lot to do. So, yes, really, I think the ball is going to be in JetBlue’s court.
They’re working out a lot of respect for them. They’re working hard. They’re also an airline that focuses on brand loyalty. So from the customer perspective, they have a lot of those sort of core DNA things that are expected there. Also competing with another airline, JFK and Boston that has that too.”
In short, United really wants back into New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Kirby also notes the geography of JetBlue’s hubs at JFK and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) would be attractive as it would allow United to more easily compete with Delta on the east coast.
It’s worth noting that, while Scott Kirby is validating the rumors we heard a couple months ago, this sounds very much aspirational and would only come with the blessing of JetBlue. Personally, I don’t see a full blown merger happening but, I could see JetBlue look to sell off some assets to United in the form of gates or slots as JetBlue continues to rebuild in an effort to return to profitability.
Summary
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby identified JetBlue as a potential merger opportunity during the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference earlier this week. While he states JetBlue would be the most attractive of the U.S. airlines to merge with, this appears to be an observation at this point. However, the door is open and the words have been spoken so we could possibly see some movement here over the next few years.
It’s interesting, reading what Scott Kirby says it’s clear they are not interested In acquiring anyone given the headaches that integration brings, but you understood the opposite…
What’s clear to me is that while Kirby doesn’t think united needs to acquire JetBlue, if they came with favorable terms that United would be amenable to it. He clearly states that he wants back in at JFK and would like to go head to head with “another airline” (Delta) in BOS. With the current market uncertainty I don’t think anyone is going to be making a move soon, except possibly Spirit, but this validates the earlier rumor that United has at least been looking at some or all of JetBlue.