United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) is expected to retire 21 aircraft early during 2025, as the company anticipates some softness in the market and prepares to implement a short-term response to new headwinds, according to chief executive Scott Kirby.
Speaking at a Barclays industrial event earlier this month, Kirby discussed the possibility of lower-than-expected profitability outlooks for the first quarter.
“We have seen government and some low-end consumer leisure weakness, which also appears consistent to me with a lot of other data that I look at [...]. You put all that together, and we now expect to be at the low end of our guidance range. So what do we do in response to that? At United, we looked at the situation and said, ‘Well, what we are doing is retiring 21 aircraft early. That is something that will be cash-positive this year’,” he said, noting that in 2024 the carrier had to spend USD100 million on engine overhauls.
United Airlines is retiring the “most expensive aircraft” in its fleet. However, Kirby did not disclose which types the company will be moving away from. ch-aviation reached out to the carrier for additional clarification but it declined to comment.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that United Airlines' mainline fleet comprises 1,010 aircraft, of which the oldest, on average, are the B767-300ERs (37 in total, averaging 29.1 years), followed by the B757-200s (40, 28.2 years), the B777-200s (19, 28.1 years), and the B737-700s (40, 26 years).
“We built a plan with optionality and flexibility that, if we see short-term headwinds, we can make short-term responses. And that step, the 21 aircraft, correlates to what we have seen,” Kirby added.
In parallel, United Airlines expects to receive 73 aircraft in 2025, including nine B787-9s, sixteen B737-8s, twenty-eight B737-9s, and twenty A321neos.
