United Airlines CEO: You may see pre-recessionary behavior 'if you squint hard'

Brian Sozzi
·Executive Editor
Updated ·2 min read
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United Airlines (UAL) CEO Scott Kirby is still seeing solid travel demand this holiday season, though perhaps littered with a few cautionary signs entering 2023.

"I guess if you squint hard... [you could] see what I would call pre-recessionary behavior," Kirby said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). Still, Kirby reaffirmed that this year's ongoing travel rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic has continued with "really strong demand" at this point in time.

"We're setting records every month on travel demand," the CEO added.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 22: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby joins fellow airline executives, union heads and politicians for a news conference to call on Congress to pass an extension of the Payroll Support Program to save thousands of travel jobs, outside the U.S. Capitol September 22, 2020 in Washington, DC. Set to expire on September 30, the PSP -- a mix of grants and loans worth about $50 billion -- gave a lifeline to the airline industry after the global coronavirus pandemic shut it down. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby delivers a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on September 22, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Kirby is putting his money where his mouth is in terms of betting big on travel's post-pandemic recovery.

The carrier announced Tuesday it placed an order for 100 of Boeing's top-of-the-line 787 Dreamliners with options to purchase 100 more. In a press release, United described the purchase as "the largest widebody order by a U.S. carrier in commercial aviation history" and said it expects to take delivery between 2024 and 2032.

United also exercised options to purchase 44 Boeing 737 Max aircraft for delivery between 2024 and 2026.

The company says the orders will lead it to hire 15,000 new employees in 2023.

"It's an option on a really strong recovery, which we think is what's going to happen," Kirby said about the orders.

United previously stated it would end 2022 with 68 Dreamliners in service.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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