Scott Kirby Thinks American Airlines Is Cooked – And We Can't Even Blame Him
Alright, let's cut the corporate BS for a minute. You got United's CEO, Scott Kirby, out there, practically doing a victory lap while American Airlines is still trying to figure out if the plane has wings. He's on some podcast, "Airlines Confidential" – which, honestly, sounds like a place where they swap war stories and maybe a few corporate secrets after a few too many scotches – and he ain't holding back. He's basically declared that American is dead in the water, a goner, finished. United CEO Scott Kirby Confidently Declares That American Is Cooked And the worst part? He's making a pretty damn compelling case, not because he's some clairvoyant guru, but because American keeps handing him the shovel.
Kirby's Crystal Ball of Doom
So, Kirby, the guy who probably eats spreadsheets for breakfast and dreams in market share percentages, is out here saying there's only room for two "premium" airlines in the US. Two. Not three. He’s talking about United and Delta. Everyone else? Just fighting over "spill traffic." Like, literally, the scraps off the table. He said it straight up: "there's two today, and there will only be two." That's a pretty bold claim, even for a guy who once called United the "best airline in the history of aviation." Talk about confidence, or maybe just a serious case of inflated ego – then again, ain't that just a prerequisite for being a CEO these days?
He's got this whole narrative about the industry not being a "commodities business" anymore, but about "brand loyal customers." And yeah, okay, I’ll give him that one. Airlines make bank on loyalty programs now, not just ticket sales. But the way he frames it, it’s like he invented the concept of customer loyalty. Give me a break. He even took a shot at American's Chicago O'Hare operations, saying he "wouldn't want to play American's hand" there. You can almost hear the smugness dripping from his words, can't you? Like he's sitting in a smoky backroom, tossing down a royal flush while American's still trying to make a pair of deuces work.
What gets me is his own origin story. This guy started at America West, then US Airways, then American. He claims he was the architect of the "brand loyal" strategy through all those mergers, and he's just using the "same playbook" at United. Scott Kirby Explains How His Leadership Changed — And Why United’s Entire Strategy Looks Different Under Him Now Now, I don't know about you, but from where I'm sitting, US Airways wasn't exactly known for inspiring brand loyalty. Charging for water? Trying to cut bonus miles? That's not building loyalty, that's actively trying to annoy people until they flee. So, is this a genuine evolution, or just a convenient narrative he's spun now that he's got the top job at United? Did he really have this grand vision all along, or did he just learn from his predecessors' screw-ups and realize that being a "spreadsheet guy" wasn't enough when you're the face of the company? I mean, who is the real Scott Kirby? Is he the numbers whiz who wouldn't approve Wi-Fi until the spreadsheets screamed "revenue loss," or the enlightened leader adding seat-back screens and Starlink internet? Or is it just whatever makes for a good press conference this week?
American's Self-Inflicted Wounds
Here’s the rub, though: as much as Kirby sounds like a carnival barker, American Airlines is doing everything in its power to make him look like a prophet. The facts are grim: United's financial performance is up, American's is down. They lost money in Q3 2025 – Q3, people! That's supposed to be prime travel season, when even a blind squirrel finds a nut. This ain't just a bad quarter; it's a symptom of a deeper rot.
The source material even brings up the old "airline CEO as football coach" analogy, and it's spot on. You lose the locker room, you lose the game. And American's CEO, Robert Isom? He's no Vince Lombardi, that's for sure. He's not some strategic genius, and he sure as hell ain't inspiring the troops. He's like the captain of a ship that's already taking on water, and his big plan is to... "focus on the customer." Seriously? That's "table stakes," as their own Chief Customer Officer admitted. It's the bare minimum. What's the strategy? What's the rallying cry? They've got all these amazing assets – London, Sydney, Tokyo hubs, Miami for Latin America – but they're acting like they're flying regional jets out of some forgotten airstrip in Idaho.
It's infuriating, honestly. American has every opportunity to prove Kirby wrong, to stick it to him, to show that three can play this game. But what do we get? Incremental "customer experience" improvements. That's like putting a fresh coat of paint on a house that's got termites and a crumbling foundation. It looks nice for a minute, but the whole damn thing is still going to collapse. And then they wonder why everyone's laughing at them. It’s not because Kirby is some evil mastermind; it’s because American is letting him be right. They're just sitting there, proving his point, one quarterly loss at a time, and it's driving me absolutely bonkers...
The Only Thing Permanent Is Change (And Corporate Greed)
Look, I don't buy Kirby's "permanence" argument for a second. Nothing in this industry is permanent. Remember when Doug Parker, Isom's predecessor, said American would "never lose money again"? How'd that work out? The airline industry is a chaotic, unpredictable beast. A pandemic, a new technology, a sudden shift in fuel prices, a brilliant new competitor – any one of those things can flip the script faster than you can say "layoffs." To declare the game over, with only two winners, is just hubris. It's what he wants to happen, not what's written in stone.
But for American to actually challenge that narrative, they need a seismic shift. Not just a new CEO, but a new vision, a fire in the belly, something that makes employees and customers actually want to be there. Something that makes Kirby choke on his own words. Until then, he'll keep talking, and American will keep flailing, and we'll all be stuck watching the slowest, most predictable train wreck in aviation history.
