An American Airlines sits at a gate of Chicago O’Hare International Airport on January 15. (Photo by Daniel Slim)
AFP via Getty Images
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has again excoriated a key rival’s presence at Chicago O’Hare, saying that American Airlines will lose $1 billion at ORD this year while United makes more than $500 million.
Kirby spoke on United’s fourth quarter earnings call on Wednesday morning. American responded early Thursday, calling Kirby’s repeated claims “inconsistent” and “unsubstantiated” American believes it sees continuing year-over-year gains in Chicago market share.
“While it’s clear that one hub carrier would prefer less competition at O’Hare, the inconsistent, third-party claims regarding our performance in Chicago are unsubstantiated,” an American spokeswoman said in an email. “Over the course of nearly a century, American Airlines has invested billions of dollars in its team, customers, operation and airport infrastructure in Chicago, which includes the addition of nearly 30 new destinations from O’Hare International Airport (ORD) this year alone.
“That, coupled with an ongoing comprehensive growth strategy in the market, demonstrates our commitment to Chicago far more than external claims and tactics,” American said. “Two competing hub carriers means ORD is positioned to provide lower fares and more options to travel to, from and through Chicago. That competition is inherently good for the City of Chicago and economic development in the region, as well as for consumers, both in Chicago and beyond, and is a key contributor to O’Hare’s return to the busiest airfield in the nation in 2025.”
Through November 2025, passenger traffic at O’Hare grew 6.25% to 78.1 million, apparently enabling the airport to regain its status as the third busiest U.S. airport. Denver, which had been third, grew more slowly: through November, it had reported 75.7 million passengers, up 0.2%.
Late in the United call, Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Linenberg questioned Kirby about the competition in Chicago.
“I was afraid we’d get through the call without addressing Chicago,” Kirby said. “So I’m happy to do it.” He said that United’s decade-long strategy of building brand loyalty has enabled it to overtake American, which had a higher market share in Chicago in 2016. By 2025 United had a 22-point lead with Chicago-origination passengers and a 38-point lead with “brand loyal business customers,” he said.
In Chicago, he said, “We made a $500 million profit” and “probably would have made $600 million. So it probably cost us about $100 million. But our competitor lost $500 million even though they didn’t start that really until May, so bigger on a full year basis.
“As we enter 2026, there’s another wave of growth coming from that competitor,” Kirby said. “Most of that’s going to wind up exactly the same as it did last year.” He noted, “Likely, we’ll still be able to grow our earnings in Chicago for the same reasons it worked last year. American, and we’re pretty good at estimating this, is likely to push to about $1 billion in losses in Chicago.”
Kirby said American added gates in 2025 and, based on the airport’s gate allocation, American will win three gates in 2026. But regarding future allocations, he said, “In 2026, we’re drawing a line in the sand. We are not going to allow them to win a single gate at our expense in 2026. We’re not trying to win gates, but we’re going to add as many flights as are required to make sure that we keep our gate count the same in Chicago.”
Currently, United has an advantage, with about 95 gates compared to about 60 for American. United gained five in a reallocation this year: American called that premature under a 2018 agreement related to airport expansion and went to court seeking a preliminary injunction. It lost and is now appealing. Each gate enables half a dozen daily departures.
Kirby implied that United will add Chicago flying soon, telling a reporter, “I’m not going to announce that today. I think we’re going to have a schedule load next week that will give you the answer.”
In a report issued late Wednesday, JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker wrote that United “appeared to double-down on its commentary that American can’t win in Chicago.” However, Baker noted that even if it is losing money in Chicago, American makes money elsewhere – at its three most profitable hubs and in its credit card partnership with Citibank. “In American’s case, DFW, CLT and DCA – not to mention Loyalty (which just became even more profitable three weeks ago) – absolutely fall into the category of both offsetting and outsized, in our view. Hence our conviction that American isn’t likely to throw in the towel in Chicago any time soon…if ever.”
American CEO Robert Isom will likely respond to Kirby’s comments on American’s earnings call on Wednesday. “Scott’s trying to flush out Robert to answer the question of how much he’s losing in Chicago,” said Dennis Tajer, spokesman for Allied Pilots Association, which represents American pilots. “We’ll see if Robert takes the bait.”