(CTN News) – Just yesterday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby voiced his displeasure with the presence of a budget airline he deemed “inferior.”

The Wall Street Journal hosted an event on Thursday called “Future of Everything,” and Kirby gave a presentation as part of it. He said during his speech that the low-cost carrier model is “obsolete.”

He makes an unfounded claim—that “the model’s purpose was to deceive the customer”—in his explanation. “It involved misleading individuals, enticing them to make purchases and attend, only to impose numerous unexpected fees.” After that, he said, “Disclosures obscured by their legal terminology.”

He preceded his assertion with a statement about the situation. “Their challenge lies in having expanded to a degree that requires a devoted customer base.” This subset of the population shows much lower-than-average levels of understanding.

United Airlines announced its JetBlue partnership during Kirby’s speech.

Starting in 2027, United Express will be authorized to operate no more than seven daily nonstop flights out of Terminal 6 at John F. Kennedy International Airport per the Blue Sky agreement.

Depending on personal preference, passengers on these flights will be able to travel in either direction. We schedule each flight to depart from a specific airport.

Customers of both United Airlines will have the chance to earn and redeem frequent flyer points, subject to the approval of the appropriate regulatory bodies. This is one of the many benefits of the transaction, so it’s important to note.

In contrast to its traditional low-cost airline competitors, JetBlue appears to provide something new, according to Kirby’s remarks on Thursday. Kirby has published a declaration in which he makes a clear claim.

The founding principle of JetBlue was to provide first-rate service to all parties involved, including employees and customers. This was the principal goal of the organization. He claims that the original goal of low-cost United Airlines was to provide the bare minimum of services possible to keep prices low. ”

Both entities are startups, yet their business models are fundamentally distinct.”

During the meeting, the chief executive officer faced questions about United Airlines’ potential acquisition of JetBlue. The possible acquisition was the subject of inquiries.

In response to the many questions asked about it, Kirby laughed and said he wouldn’t look into the possibility of a merger between the companies. After receiving several questions about it, he released this statement.

Beyond this, he emphasized once again that he is the one being interrogated about the subject. He made the following remark while laughing out loud. His prior remarks seemed to suggest that he was never interested in exploring a merger.

One thing he said was that “mergers present difficulties.”

He made it very clear that those who frequently fly with United Airlines will now receive priority during the application process. Disclosures made to news outlets indicate that “our objective is to enhance the status of our regular passengers on both banks of the Hudson River.”

“To enhance our presence in regions such as Boston.” In April, United Airlines revealed plans to cut domestic capacity by about 4% starting in July. Regrettably, the airline made this decision despite outperforming most of its competitors in 2024.

The airline’s operational efficiency was higher than its competitors, but it still couldn’t stop this problem from happening. We decided at the start of the year how to handle this specific issue. We made this decision due to the declining demand for the product.

Many individuals from Canada and other nations have decided not to go on summer vacations in the US anymore because of President Trump’s tariffs. The safety of passengers traveling on regional United Airlines may be at risk as a result of this decision.

The airline made the following statements: “The company’s forecast is dependent on the macroeconomic environment, which is uncertain this year.”

SOURCE: BI