United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has called the war in Ukraine a “human tragedy” and explained how it is impacting his airline.
CEO Kirby Discusses War In Ukraine And Its Impact On United Airlines
In a video message to employees viewed by Live and Let’s Fly, Kirby lamented the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine, sending “our heartfelt sympathies and support to the people of Ukraine and for what is happening in that part of the world right now.” Later in his message, he pivoted back to Ukraine and its impact on United:
“Now, Ukraine is first and foremost a human tragedy what’s happening there, but that’s also affecting United Airlines on a financial basis. Easy to see the impact of our flights over Russia, and it’s had a pretty big impact on our ability to serve markets like India. And we’re going to wind up being smaller in places like that.
“I’m also worried that it might have a longer term knock on effects of the economy, whether it’s inflation or something escalating in Ukraine.
“But by far, the biggest known impact from the Ukrainian situation for us on our financial position is the impact of fuel prices. But we’ve been through much worse challenges than this in the past, and we’ve overcome them. COVID was a much bigger impact, and we’re going to overcome this one.”
Key takeaways:
- Kirby implies that service to India will be reduced on a long-term basis. Could this spell doom for the new San Francisco – Bangalore service set to begin later in 2022?
- Fuel prices and inflation are a central concern.
- Even so, the war in Ukraine, higher fuel prices, and inflation have not kept people from booking airfare.
Because of rising oil prices, United expects to breakeven in the second quarter rather than report profit:
“I said we would have been solid profitable in the second quarter. Now it could change based on oil prices going up or going down more, or perhaps there will be a revenue impact with people afraid to…
