United became the first major airline to permanently eliminate change fees during the pandemic (even if other airlines followed with more generous policies).

United has become a leader on many fronts, rather than a follower, which wasn’t previously the case. On top of that, United is actively looking towards the future, and competing with Delta rather than American. That being said, Kirby has surpassed my expectations in terms of the way United has managed the pandemic, in terms of service, communication, and managing of expectations.

It has obviously been an incredibly challenging year for the industry, so it’s not exactly the most enviable time to be appointed CEO of an airline. Kirby took over at United at a challenging time Why Kirby has exceeded my expectations Dao off UA3411Įven though Kirby has been in his new role for just over a year and during a pandemic, it has been fun to see a different side of him, which leaves me optimistic about United’s future. The most significant thing United was known for in the previous five years was the dragging of Dr.

At that point Oscar Munoz was appointed CEO, who was good for employee morale, and perhaps he was what the airline needed at that point, but he wasn’t necessarily the most effective or knowledgable guy in the industry.In 2015, United CEO Jeff Smisek resigned, given that he was involved in a scandal, and frankly left the company in a pretty toxic place, following the merger with Continental.On top of that, he was taking over at United after a rather challenging several years for the airline: Kirby was a notorious numbers guy, and was rumored to never come across a cost cutting initiative he didn’t like. Many of us were skeptical, and were worried that Kirby would turn United into US Airways circa 2008 (which made Greyhound look like Emirates, by comparison). Sure enough, in 2020, Kirby was appointed CEO of United. The implications of Kirby moving to United were pretty clear - Kirby was being groomed to become the CEO of United, while he didn’t see a pathway to that at American. This caught the industry off guard, because Kirby had essentially been the right-hand man of American Airlines CEO Doug Parker for a couple of decades, through two major mergers, dating all the way back to the America West days. In 2016, it was announced that American Airlines President Scott Kirby would move to United Airlines, where he was appointed to the same role. Why I was skeptical when Kirby moved to United Why I was skeptical when Kirby moved to United.'They're spending that money to do that because it's a priority,' he said on 'Squawk Box. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Tuesday said consumers are spending on travel because many were unable to take trips during the pandemic. Retailers and travel companies are battling for consumer spending this holiday season, as households face rising costs for everything from housing to groceries. United's Kirby reiterated that hybrid work models are shifting travel patterns to give workers that 'have always had plenty of disposable income' the ability to travel since they're not 'tethered to their desks.' At the same time a lack of available aircraft and trained pilots have driven up airfare across the industry, helping return airlines to profitability. In October, United forecast another profit for the last three months of the year thanks to strong demand. the word 'recession' wouldn't be in my vocabulary, just looking at our data,' he said. Kirby said the carrier isn't seeing a recession in its data but forecasts a 'mild recession induced by the Fed.'

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