United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby ran the idea of a colossal merger with rival American Airlines by US President Donald Trump during a meet-up at the White House, according to reports.
According to Bloomberg, sources told the media organization that Kirby sounded out the potential move with senior government officials.
Reuters later reported that conversations about a merger between United and American were held in late February 2026 and involved President Trump.
The conversation took place while they met to discuss the future of Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), according to Reuters.
The news follows a CNBC interview with the Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on April 7, 2026, where he displayed an openness to the idea of two US airlines coming together.
“That’s going to come through us but also President Trump, he loves to see big deals happen. He would have to review that kind of a deal. It has to go through DOJ and it will come to DOT. Who knows who’s going to match up. There’s always chatter but is there room for some mergers in the aviation industry, yeah, I think there is,” said Secretary Duffy.
It is widely thought that a merger between two of the four largest US airlines would be unlikely due to strict rules around competition and the effect this would have on ticket prices.
JetBlue and Spirit Airlines have often been speculated as two of the most likely candidates to be purchased by a larger airline.
Duffy himself said in his interview with CNBC that there would be many questions that needed to be answered around competition and the impact on consumers if a merger proposition arrived on his table.
That’s gonna be a no. https://t.co/YYDY81Xr46
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) April 14, 2026
He said that if a merger between the larger airlines formed, then “they’re going to have to peel off some of their assets”, but a decision would be made on a “case-by-case basis”.
Perhaps signaling the difficulty of getting such a merger over the line, Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego wrote on social media: “That’s gonna be a no.”