United Airlines is seeking to expand operations at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) through potential deals with smaller carriers, as well as grow its international and premium offer, according to a CNBC interview with United CEO Scott Kirby.
United may be number one for profits right now, but like other carriers in the current market, it faces cost challenges and barriers to growth, including limited airport slot capacity and manufacturing delays on new aircraft. It is waiting for 167 Boeing Max 10s that were due to enter service six years ago and still will not be ready until 2027. On top of that, hundreds of seats made bespoke for the Max 10s are now sitting empty.
“We got a bunch of lie-flat seats that we don’t know what to do with,” Kirby told CNBC. “They don’t fit on other airplanes.”
Nonetheless, moving ahead with the so-called “premiumization” of its fleet, United has kitted out some of its Airbus A321neos with 20 Polaris suites and premium economy seats to serve its “Coastliner” transcontinental routes.
United is already ranked in first place for international capacity and has specialised in developing US routes to what Simple Flying calls “secondary destinations” such as Bilbao and Mallorca in Spain, Palermo in Italy, and Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia (via Tokyo).
That strategy is set to continue with Kirby talking up the carrier’s South American and southeastern US networks, potentially turning Miami International into a new regional hub. American Airlines currently dominates slots there.
On America’s other coast, Delta has opened up a new front in the battle for transpacific flyers, in which Delta aims to overtake United, using Los Angeles (LAX) as a hub to fly direct to Hong Kong. United has seized the gauntlet there, debuting direct flights to Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City via Hong Kong, as well as adding a nonstop Sapporo service to its Japan schedules.
Slot capacity is an issue elsewhere too. Kirby indicated United could tackle the problem at New York JFK by acquiring slots from smaller carriers with low margins or unprofitable operations. United has already proposed an effective merger with Delta and seen it snubbed, but a partnership with JetBlue is slated for 2027. “We got a bunch of irons in the fire to try to find ways to do it,” Kirby told CNBC.
Another of those irons is the airline’s approach to AI, which Kirby says he aims to deploy to minimise weather disruption, maximise efficiency, ease passengers’ travel experience, and boost reliability. The latter is a focus since United currently ranks lower than Delta and Alaska Airlines for on-time arrivals, according to US Department of Transportation data.
