Scott Kirby says leisure bookings will offset the drop in government spending
A United Boeing 757-200 aircraft (Photo: Shutterstock | Robin Guess)
United has seen “a pretty material” short term impact on its government business, according to company leadership speaking at the J.P. Morgan 2025 Industrials Conference.
United CEO Scott Kirby said during Tuesday’s conference that 2 to 3% of the carrier’s business comes from the U.S. government – including accompanying consultants and contracts.
“That’s running down about 50% right now,” he said. “So [that’s] a pretty material impact in the short term. … And we’ve seen some bleed over to that into the domestic leisure market.”
“We have seen government at some low-end consumer leisure weakness, which also appears consistent to me with a lot of other data that I look at,” Kirby continued. “We’ve had a fuel price benefit from that, but our internal costs are also better. You put all that together and we now expect to be at the low end of our guidance range.”
Kirby said that capacity changes have allowed United to take more leisure bookings, offsetting much of that 50% drop in government business. He also said he expects “modest supply changes in the very near term” as summer approaches.
Additionally, Kirby said United will be retiring 21 aircraft for a “cash positive this year” and to avoid $100 million in expenses on engine overhauls for those airplanes.
“[W]e built a plan with optionality and flexibility that if we see short term headwinds, we can make short term responses,” he said.
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