The American airline United Airlines has often been associated with unflattering attributes. Customer service was considered poor, so poor that a country band once wrote a song about baggage workers smashing a guitar while reloading. The business model – large hubs, hardly any niches, large aircraft, alliances – was also not very original and at times also insufficiently implemented. United was the problem case among the big four in the US industry, which also includes American, Delta and Southwest.
That could change now. Last week, the airline announced that it would make profits again in the second half of 2021. That would make her one of the first to turn around after lockdowns and losses of billions. But CEO Scott Kirby, 53, is working on an airline that is to be strategically completely different from the old one. When it comes to Kirby, United will be a pioneer when it comes to sustainability, while at the same time leaving the old days of many customer complaints behind and becoming more innovative than the competition.
The plan has five elements: The airline sets itself significantly stricter environmental goals than the industry. They even go far beyond what the European providers want to achieve. United promises to fly completely emission-free by 2050, without using offset trading in emission certificates, the effectiveness of which can often not be verified. While the industry is still discussing how it can use electric or hybrid-electric powered aircraft, United is creating facts. Together with a regional partner, the group has ordered 200 Heart Aerospace ES-19 19-seater electric 19-seater, which will fly from 2026. The competition is hiding behind the scenes that the electric aircraft will not work, but United is now making investments to ensure that Heart Aerospace can finance further development work.
United wants to send supersonic jets across the Atlantic for the first time
Sustainability is one aspect, another is new business areas: United has ordered 200 air taxis from the Californian start-up Archer to bring passengers from the surrounding area to the airports. And from 2029 United plans to send Boom Supersonic supersonic jets across the Atlantic for the first time.
Kirby, who has been at the helm of United since spring 2020, is the man behind the plan. He has worked in the industry for decades, in 1995 he joined America West Airlines as head of network planning and then held management positions at US Airways and American Airlines. He was long considered the coming man, but was always only number two. In 2016 he moved to arch-rivals United in Chicago amid some noise and again had a boss in front of his nose in Oscar Munoz. But this time it was clear that Kirby would take over after a few years.
“Scott is beginning to take on his leadership role,” said Mo Garfinkle, chief executive at Tailwind Consultants and one who has known Kirby for a long time. “His first job was to make sure the airline survived the pandemic. But now it’s about his leadership role in the industry.” With his radical ideas, he is currently overtaking industry giants Doug Parker (American), Gary Kelly (Southwest) and Ed Bastian (Delta), who look pretty old-fashioned next to him.
But why take the step to become a chief innovator now? “Kirby has always had the ability to grasp a complex situation,” says Garfinkle. “And he doesn’t want United and the industry to become dinosaurs.” The environmental course also earns United points with younger new customers who consider sustainability important, and the airline is also clearly positioning this politically.
If one of the initiatives doesn’t work out, that’s not too bad either. The investments are limited. But when a project really takes off, United has built a huge head start.