United Approached Delta Last Year About Merging Airlines -- WSJ

By Alison Sider and Andrew Tangel

United Airlines, on the hunt for a megadeal, last year approached Delta Air Lines about a merger that would have combined the two most valuable U.S. carriers, according to people familiar with the matter.

As part of the pitch, United Chief Executive Scott Kirby made a call to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, some of the people said.

Delta leaders discussed the approach and merits of a potential deal as part of preliminary due diligence, people familiar with the matter said. The talks didn't progress and both companies later moved on from the proposal, they said.

The outreach, which hasn't previously been reported, underscores Kirby's appetite for taking big swings in pursuit of his global ambitions for United. His later attempt to engage in merger talks with American Airlines, which American rebuffed, also became public earlier this year.

United and Delta are among four giants that have come to dominate the U.S. airline industry after a series of mergers over the past two decades. Industry officials have long believed that any merger between those carriers would be impossible due to antitrust concerns.

But business leaders in many industries were hopeful that big deals -- even some that would have been unthinkable in the past -- might be achievable during the second Trump administration.

A merger between United and Delta -- two of the world's biggest airlines -- would have had wide-ranging implications for airline competition and consumers . It would likely have faced scrutiny from antitrust enforcers and state attorneys general.

Kirby has made no secret of his respect for Delta. The Atlanta-based carrier has spent years upending conventional airline wisdom that customers care mostly about finding the cheapest seat that works in their schedules. Its focus on the travel experience has given premium travelers a reason to be loyal and made Delta the most profitable U.S. carrier.

The strategy helped inspire United's own transformation in recent years. Last year, United and Delta accounted for over 90% of the industry's profits.

As of Friday, Delta had a market valuation of about $56 billion, and United's market value was around $38 billion.

There was sharp backlash earlier this year when Bloomberg reported that Kirby had floated the idea of a merger between United and American in a meeting with President Trump. Lawmakers raised concerns that the tie-up could harm travelers. Trump said he didn't like the idea. And American CEO Robert Isom blasted it as "anticompetitive."

High fuel prices, which are currently rattling the industry, have previously been a catalyst for airline industry shake-ups. Bastian has said there could be consolidation among struggling smaller players but that it isn't something Delta is looking to pursue.

Kirby has said he has little appetite for smaller mergers. "In the past, airline mergers usually have been about two struggling airlines coming together to cut costs, flights and headcount. My aspirations could not be more different," he wrote in a statement in April about the American proposal.

But without a willing partner, Kirby said in May that he doesn't see United participating in industry consolidation in the foreseeable future. He has denied that United would be interested in acquiring New York-based carrier JetBlue, telling analysts and investors in May that he has long believed that only a big transaction, like the one he tried to pull off with American, made sense.

Write to Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com and Andrew Tangel at andrew.tangel@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 26, 2026 14:12 ET (18:12 GMT)