‘Like Pepsi buying Coke’: Why American Airlines rejects United merger idea
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby raised eyebrows in the aviation industry after talking about a merger with American Airlines during a conversation with members of the Trump administration.
But American says it’s not happening anytime soon. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company released a statement Friday about the matter.
“American Airlines is not engaged with or interested in any discussions regarding a merger with United Airlines,” the company said in a statement.
Any deal would have a major impact on Charlotte’s airport and other busy terminals around the world, according to experts. Fort Worth-based American Airlines accounts for 90% of flights at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Ben Mutzabaugh, managing editor for aviation at The Points Guy, a travel website covering passenger services, said it would be an unprecedented move but strategically fascinating.
“It’s hard to take seriously, because it sure would go against pretty much every past precedent we’ve had in the aviation industry ... it would be like Pepsi buying Coke, or NBC buying CBS,” Mutzabaugh said.
United declined to comment on the rumor. It was originally pitched by Kirby to President Donald Trump as a way to compete with foreign carriers. The meeting was held in late February and just three days before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Reuters reported. That drove jet fuel prices sharply higher and prompted airlines to raise fares and fees to offset the added costs.
John Strong, a professor of finance and economics at William & Mary, believes Kirby was floating an idea and attributes it partly to his history with American Airlines, where he served as president.
“I think (Scott Kirby) has always felt that he could do a better job running American ... the United CEO knows the American system in every detail,” Strong said.
American said in its statement changes in the broader airline marketplace may be necessary, but a combination with United would be negative for competition and consumers. The airline also said it would be inconsistent with its understanding of the administration’s philosophy toward the industry and antitrust laws.
“Our focus will remain on executing on our strategic objectives and positioning American to win for the long term,” the airline stated.
The airline said it looks forward to continuing to work with the administration as it takes steps to strengthen the broader airline industry, according to the statement.
Peter Schwarz, an emeritus professor of economics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, finds it unusual that the company publicly “poured cold water” on the idea by citing consumer harm — a role usually reserved for regulators, not companies.
“The role of the company is to try to earn profits,” Schwarz said. “But I guess perhaps they see that this is a futile effort, and so they decided to go with the public relations angle. I think it’s kind of an unusual position for the airline to take. But personally, I’m glad they took that, because I would not like to see this merger.”
A Charlotte ‘Fortress Hub’ Obstacle
One of the primary hurdles to such a deal is the “fortress hub” factor.
Major airlines typically dominate specific geographic hubs. For example, Delta rules Atlanta, while United maintains a stronghold in cities such as Newark, New Jersey. Merging American and United could create a massive “behemoth” that regulators and competitors would likely find impossible to stomach, Mutzabaugh added.
If a merger were to occur, CLT would be a significant prize for United. It would provide the Chicago-based carrier with a dominant hub in the Southeast, a region where it currently holds only about 2% market share.
However, growth would come with steep regulatory hurdles. Even if federal authorities approved the deal, they would likely force the new airline to give up gates and takeoff slots at crowded airports. Mutzabaugh noted that political pushback is almost certain.
“I would imagine that you would have some members of Congress and some politicians in the Carolinas who would be a little uncomfortable about how dominant [the airline] would be,” Mutzabaugh said.
CLT is currently a major hub for the Southeast and a major alternative to Atlanta, Strong added. United would take advantage of this “spider network” as a way to compete aggressively with Delta, which dominates Atlanta. And with a brand-new terminal opening at Washington Dulles later this year, United would have the capacity to move Charlotte’s international gateways to D.C.
“I would expect Charlotte to become a secondary operation in terms of — it’d still be a hub, but it wouldn’t be a hub like it is now,” Strong said.
The impact on Charlotte travelers
With Charlotte already a monopoly-like market, Mutzabaugh doubts other airlines would want those leftover gates. Competing against a carrier that is dominant on its home turf would be challenging.
For customers, the trade-off would be a mix of convenience and cost. That includes an unmatched flight schedule, with the potential to make Charlotte even busier than it is now. CLT ranked seventh in the world for aircraft operations in Airports Council International’s preliminary 2025 list — down one spot from 2024. The airport recorded 574,193 aircraft operations, a 4% decline from 2024 and a 7% increase compared to 2023, according to CLT.
But for passengers who hate busy airports, another downside is higher prices compared with competitive airports like Raleigh-Durham, which is not dominated by a single carrier.
“Your schedule would probably be as good as it could possibly get if you’re an air traveler based in Charlotte,” Mutzabaugh said. “The downside ... your pricing power as a consumer would go away.”
Hal Singer, an antitrust economist from consulting firm Econ One, said federal officials don’t just look at total airport dominance, but route dominance as well. Even if a merger doesn’t create a total monopoly, moving from three competitors to two on specific routes may become an issue.
“What drives (the agencies) insane ... gets their hair up is if you take a route that was served by two and after the merger goes to one — they call this ‘merger to monopoly.’”
That would give them power to raise prices, and it would impact employees as well.
“United and American might have to compete on wages right now,” Singer said. “If you were to eliminate one of them, that would mean that workers would be in a less favorable position. They wouldn’t be able to bargain.”
An uncertain deal
If combined, the two airlines would have 40% of the domestic market, CNBC reported.
“This would be the biggest of all time. I can’t even see the slightest chance that a court would allow it,” George Hay, a law professor at Cornell University, told CNBC.
Mutzabaugh shared similar thoughts.
“I’ve learned to never say never, but it’s hard to imagine,” Mutzabaugh said.
This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 12:32 PM with the headline "‘Like Pepsi buying Coke’: Why American Airlines rejects United merger idea."