United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has once again praised President Trump’s tariff policy, arguing noble intentions of creating middle-class careers are the driving force. But is something else going on? Is Kirby courting favor with the Trump administration because he has an ulterior motive?

United Airlines CEO Doubles Down On Tariff Embrace: Is JetBlue The Prize?

Earlier this month, Live And Let’s Fly was first to report on positive remarks Kirby directed toward the Trump Administration’s tariff policy. Kirby later told me that those marks were unscripted and off-the-cuff; they were not planned.

Three weeks later, Kirby is sticking to the message, almost verbatim.

On Thursday, April 24, 2025, Kirby spoke at Semafor’s 2025 World Economy Summit in Washington, DC (thanks to One Mile At A Time for flagging this). Asked about tariffs, Kirby again gave them a positive spin. You can watch the video clip below or read his full statement, which I’ve transcribed to ensure nothing is taken out of context:

After spending a lot of time in the White House and talking to cabinet secretaries and talking to the president, we should all take a breath, but we’re not to the end state yet. You know, we’re in the process and we should all wait to get closer to the end state. The other thing I would say is having spent a lot of time there back in March, I was not surprised at a large tariff…I didn’t know what it would be, but I thought it was going be larger than the market expected. Also, I wouldn’t have expected that it was just the first move in a chess game and that there were a lot of moves left to come.

And I think part of that comes from…whether you think it’s the right tactic or not…it’s easy to argue that it’s the tactics, but the president has a genuine desire to make things better for middle-class Americans. To create good careers. The kind of careers, by the way, that United Airlines is one of the few people that still create. One of the fwe places where poeple with a high school education can come and once they get to the top of seniority scale, have good benefits, get, with overtime, get the six digit income, support a family, buy a house, have a career, work at one place for 40 years and retire with a solid future.

And he’s trying to create those kinds of jobs I think tariffs are about that. I think that’s the biggest motivation. I think it’s more complicated than tariffs to actually do it but that’s the motivation. I feel like I’ve spent enough time here to understand why what they’re doing…it’s not terribly surprising and it’s a lot easier to deal with the world and you’re not surprised and you uou understand why then you’re just guessing and you’re feeling like chaos and uncertainty. 

I don’t know that we’ll ever know the mind of Scott Kirby. And yet he has staked out a very different position than, say, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, who called tariffs “the wrong approach.”

Should an airline CEO curry favor with the current administration? Should a travel blog turn political? What is truth?

My Thoughts On Kirby’s Tariff Affirmation

I’ve studied Scott Kirby closely since his pivot from American Airlines to United Airlines in 2016. Watching him over the last decade, I have a lot of respect for him…and while there are some things that make me shake my head (the continued degradation of MileagePlus under his tenure being my greatest objection), I view him as a very smart man.

Concerning tariffs, he either genuinely believes in them or he is playing a careful game of chess because he has his sights on a bigger prize.

It’s no surprise that Kirby has courted the Trump Administration and donated to his inauguration. Kirby also courted the Biden administration and the first Trump administration…airline CEOs are politicians (Kirby is actually much more hands-on than most) and it pays to be on the side of the party in power.

Let’s review why United is in the place it is today: taxpayer-supported government bailouts during the pandemic. While smaller companies were offered modest support and Americans were issued stimulus checks that simply drove inflation, airlines were bailed out with direct aid, subsidies, tax breaks, and forgivable loans.

Without that, United would be emerging from bankruptcy as a small carrier (and would not be alone).

We know that President Trump demands loyalty (just ask Mike Pence…). We know that Sean Duffy, the Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary, is a very loyal lieutenant to Trump.

Here are four reasons why Kirby sees it in United’s financial interest to heap praises on the Trump administration:

• Priority of Air Traffic Control upgrades – there’s only so much DOT money to go around and Kirby would like it upgrade the aging air traffic control infrastructure in the USA
• United may have publicly denied it, but I am convinced Kirby wants United and JetBlue to merge, paving the way for United to return to New York JFK, and now is the time, during a “pro-business” and “anti-red tape” administration
• If there is an economic downturn, Kirby wants more subsidies from federal taxpayers, just like during the pandemic: there are winners and losers in every economic policy, but Kirby wants to ensure that United is not on the losing end
• United currently has a labor advantage by paying its union employees less and Kirby has an interest in ensuring that federal mediators do not side with work groups like flight attendants or mechanics as the worsening economy creates a ‘perfect storm” for labor deals that undercut industry peers

Let’s not forget President Trump once ran an airline himself and is deeply interested in airlines (to wit, he is personally shopping for a replacement Air Force One). Kirby may have 80,000 employees who lean left, but he has a customer base that is still evenly split. I deeply understand why he would go out of his way not to offend President Trump or his voters.

Those on the left will call it cowardice, but he’s doing his job…he’s trying to set United up for success regardless of the economic headwinds.

CONCLUSION

There can be legitimate disagreement on the intentions and execution of the Trump administration’s trade policy. When I hear Kirby speak, though, I think his concern is not that at all, but positioning United for assistance from the Trump administration when it comes to labor, mergers, air traffic control, and direct aid in case of a recession.

Time will tell, but I think Kirby is playing the role of politician and I’m not sure it’s reasonable to fault him for that, because attacking the POTUS over tariffs will not make them go away…it will only create a target on his back.