United CEO Scott Kirby confident in airline’s flight expansion

NEWARK, New Jersey — An oversupply of flights forced airlines to cut fares this year and pushed carriers to scale back their growth plans.

United Airlines‘ expansion, however, is outpacing its large-airline rivals, a plan CEO Scott Kirby told CNBC is paying off because of the company’s product, network and technology.

“This year is going to wind up demonstrating two things: If you’re a brand loyal airline, you’re resilient, even in downturn,” Kirby said in an interview Tuesday, referring to a customer pull-back earlier this year, when consumers weighed an onslaught of on-again-off-again tariffs. “And I think our fourth-quarter results are going to demonstrate the upside when the economy starts to recover.”

United will report third-quarter results and provide its fourth-quarter outlook in mid-October.

United is set to grow domestic U.S. capacity 5.7% in 2025 from last year, according to aviation-data firm Cirium. On average, U.S. airlines are expanding just shy of 2%, with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines domestic growth up about 3%, and Southwest Airlines growing 1.4% from 2024, Cirium data show.

“When you’re a brand loyal airline, we’re just a different place because customers are choosing us, and I think that’s one of the biggest changes in the industry,” Kirby said. “So many airlines thought of air travel as a commodity.”

Kirby was speaking at the airline’s hangar at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, where in June 2021, United unveiled new interiors for its fleet of narrow-body Airbus and Boeing planes.