United’s new CEO Kirby takes the reins, aiming to ‘get through hell as quickly as possible’

United’s incoming CEO Scott Kirby doesn’t mince words. “It’s far better to be too aggressive than not aggressive enough,” then-United’s president told a JP Morgan industry conference in early March, laying out a bleak picture of potentially sharp revenue declines, as the coronavirus was starting to disrupt everyday life in the US. Weeks later, the pandemic dragged air travel demand down to the lowest levels since the 1950s and the country’s airlines, including United, posted their first losses in years. In quick succession, United announced a series of capacity cuts and idled hundreds of planes as Kirby and CEO Oscar Munoz warned of job cuts this fall if demand doesn’t return. The airline scrambled to raise and conserve cash, including debt and equity sales, and sale leasebacks of some planes. Kirby, 52, United’s president since August 2016 and a more than two-decade airline executive, slides into the top job on Wednesday. He faces the greatest challenge of his career, during which he has navigated bankruptcies, mergers, the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. Known as an action-taker with a talent for growing airline networks to maximize revenue, Kirby is expected to focus on reducing cash burn and reducing costs. <br/>