United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has approached President Donald Trump about a potential merger with American Airlines, according to Bloomberg, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter.
The conversation is reported to have happened on Feb. 25, at the tail end of a meeting held to discuss a potential modernization and expansion of Washington Dulles Airport.
A proposed merger between United and American would face steep hurdles to regulatory approval. By seats offered in 2025, American was the world's largest airline, while United was the fourth, Cirium flight schedule data shows. Combined, the two carriers make up 39.2% of scheduled U.S. domestic seats this month.
United declined to comment on the report. Travel Weekly has asked American for comment.
Last week, DOT Sean Duffy said there is room for new mergers in the U.S. airline industry, but he said approval would be predicated on the proposal's impact on consumers and competitiveness in the U.S. and globally.
"If there was a merger between some of the larger airlines, we're going to have to peel off some of their assets," he added.
Under the standard approval process, the antitrust division of the Justice Department has the primary responsibility for reviewing airline merger proposals. The DOT also gets to weigh in, having the final say on whether the international route approvals of each carrier can be combined under the merged operator.
Duffy said any deal would need Trump's approval.