United Airlines CEO confirms he approached American Airlines about merger

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby confirmed Monday that he contacted American Airlines about a potential merger, a possibility American rejected.

“I approached American about exploring a combination because I thought we could do something incredible for customers together,” Kirby said in a statement. He said he shared his “big, bold vision” because he was confident it could win regulatory approval.

American rejected the idea and its CEO, Robert Isom, last week said such a merger would be bad for customers and “anticompetitive.”

Kirby had floated the idea to the Trump administration earlier this year, according to people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to discuss the private conversation, in hopes that the combination would mean a big global airline to compete with foreign rivals

American declined to comment on Kirby’s Monday statement.

“I was hoping to pitch that story to American, but they declined to engage and instead responded by publicly closing the door,” Kirby said in his statement Monday. “And without a willing partner, something this big simply can’t get done.”

He said that “American’s public comments make it clear that a merger like this is off the table for the foreseeable future” but outlined his vision for a combined airline.

Kirby reiterated that the country has deficit with foreign airlines that fly more than half of the long-haul seats into the U.S., with most of the customers being Americans.

“The combined scale of United and American would be a better way to compete with foreign carriers,” he said.

President Donald Trump said he was against the idea of a combination last week.

“I don’t like having them merge,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday morning. He said he would, however, like someone to buy struggling discount carrier Spirit but he also suggested that the federal government could “help that one out.”

Spirit and the Trump administration are in advanced talks for a rescue package.