By Shivansh Tiwary and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) – United Airlines said on Monday it had ended its pursuit of a merger with American Airlines after the rival carrier declined to engage following an initial approach.
“I was hoping to pitch that story to American, but they declined to engage and instead responded by publicly closing the door,” United CEO Scott Kirby said.
Kirby raised the idea of a combination with American during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in late February, Reuters first reported earlier this month. The meeting had been scheduled to discuss the future of Washington’s Dulles airport.
Kirby added: “American’s public comments make it clear that a merger like this is off the table for the foreseeable future.”
American declined to comment on Kirby’s statement on Monday, but pointed to remarks made last week by its CEO Robert Isom, who flatly rejected a merger. Isom said a tie-up would be anti-competitive and bad for customers.
A merger between two of the largest U.S. network carriers would have marked the biggest consolidation move in more than a decade, further tightening a domestic airline market dominated by four similarly sized players.
The scale of any deal had raised concerns among analysts and industry experts about antitrust risks.
Kirby said a deal “would have dramatically increased the total number of economy seats in the marketplace,” adding: “We wouldn’t propose a combination that would cause prices to rise for customers.”
He also argued a “truly globally competitive airline – based in the U.S.” would create American jobs and support the U.S. economy.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Reuters earlier this month that if Kirby wanted to pursue a merger, he would need to do “a little more selling on why it’s good for the American consumer.”
Trump said earlier this month he did not support a merger between the two airlines. “But with American it’s doing fine, and United is doing very well. I know the United people, they’re doing very well. I don’t like having them merge,” he said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru. Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Mark Potter)
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