President Biden Meets With United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby Among Other US Executives

US President Joe Biden recently met with senior executives of various industries to discuss his policies related to businesses and workers. The airline industry has seen significant government intervention lately, including a general antitrust stance against mergers and alliances, as well as announcements regarding refunds and other things.

United Airlines CEO meets President Biden

President Joe Biden hosted a meeting on May 7, inviting several leading executives across various sectors, including the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby. Others part of the guest list included Citi CEO Jane Fraser, Evercore founder and senior chairman Roger Altman, Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano, Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi, and Bechtel Group CEO Brendan Bechtel, among others, as reported by CNBC.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Biden’s policies regarding investments and alliances to create a strong and stable environment in which to conduct business and for workers. The current administration has had a strict antitrust approach recently across several industries, including pharma, technology, and, of course, airlines.

Biden has been vocal about industries spiking consumer costs, calling a lot of it “junk fees” that are pushed into consumer bills. Last year, at the launch of a new White House supply chain initiative, Biden took aim at big corporations when he said,

“Any corporation that has not brought their prices back down, even as inflation has come down, even as the supply chains have been rebuilt, it’s time to stop the price gouging. Give the American consumer a break.”

Recent announcement about automatic refunds

The meeting with Kirby and other executives comes after the current administration recently issued a final rule that requires carriers to promptly provide passengers with automatic cash refunds when owed. The rule dictates that passengers are entitled to a refund for canceled or significantly changed flights, significantly delayed baggage returns, and when they are denied an extra service for which they paid.

Photo: Nieuwland Photography | Shutterstock

The passenger experience in these situations will likely improve as the final rule mandates airlines to automatically issue refunds without passengers having to explicitly request them or jump through hoops. US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg commented,

“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them – without headaches or haggling. Our new rule sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”

Close watch on airline alliances and mergers

Airlines have also faced heavy scrutiny for their partnerships and merger requests. Of course, any such deals have to go through a thorough inspection to keep consumer interests in mind and to keep the playing field level, and the Biden administration has been going through airline deals with a fine-tooth comb.

One of the most recent examples is the failed merger attempt of Spirit and JetBlue, which Spirit’s CEO Ted Christie described as a “serious misreading of both the evidence and the law.”

Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock

Delta Air Lines’ partnership with Aeromexico is also headed to the guillotine as the DOT decided not to renew it after the Mexican government introduced changes to operations at Mexico City International Airport (MEX).

In December, American Airlines filed an appeal against the anti-competitive ruling on its Northeast Alliance with JetBlue to protect future joint ventures. The alliance began in 2020 and saw the two carriers pool resources and cooperate on schedules for flights in and out of New York and Boston.

Related

American Airlines Wants Judge To Overturn Ruling On Northeast Alliance

The carrier has filed an appeal on the grounds that the ruling may hurt its future competitiveness.

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