With plans to reduce capacity later this year, United CEO Scott Kirby said the airline will also retire several aircraft. The move comes as U.S. airlines report lower-than-expected profitability outlooks for the first quarter.
In response, 21 aircraft will be retired early, Kirby stated. He did not say which types would be removed from United’s fleet.
“That’s something that’ll be cash-positive this year,” he added, noting that the Chicago-based carrier would have to spend around $100 million on engine overhauls alone.
“Those are our most expensive aircraft,” Kirby said during a Tuesday J.P. Morgan investors conference. “… We built a plan with optionality and flexibility that if we see short-term headwinds, we can make short-term responses. And that 21 aircraft, by the way, sort of correlates with what we’ve seen from the government.”
According to Cirium Fleet Analyzer data, United retired a single Airbus A320 in 2024. The airline took delivery of its 1,000th mainline jet in January.
Scaling Back Capacity
Kirby said the airline has already started pulling out capacity in certain markets. Among them is the transborder sector due to “dropping” Canadian traffic to the U.S.
In addition, capacity will be reduced in “key government markets” where there’s less demand. Government travel makes up around 2% of United’s business, Kirby noted.
Amid slashes to government spending, government-related travel is down around 50%, “a pretty material impact in the short term,” he said.
