WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - The Trump administration does not have an opinion on reports that United Airlines was considering merging with rival American Airlines, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday.
"I know it's an idea that has been proposed by private industry, but it's not something the president or the White House have an opinion on or are weighing in on," Leavitt said.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby pitched the potential for merging with American Airlines in a meeting
with U.S. President Donald Trump in late February, two sources said, raising the prospect of an industry-reshaping deal likely to face significant regulatory hurdles.
The idea has already drawn political pushback. Senator Mike Lee, who leads the Senate antitrust subcommittee, wrote on X that the proposal was "one of the most tone-deaf acts of corporate aggression."
The Monopoly Busters Caucus, a group of Democratic lawmakers focused on antitrust enforcement, said the proposal should "never see the light of day" and warned that any such deal could be unwound even after approval.
"There is no statute of limitations on breaking up bad deals," the group said.
A combination of two of the largest U.S. network carriers would mark the biggest consolidation move in more than a decade, further tightening a domestic market already dominated by four similarly sized players.
Including international flights, United and American were already the world's two largest airlines by available capacity in 2025, according to OAG data. A combined airline would account for roughly 40% of U.S. domestic flying capacity based on 2025 schedules, underscoring the scale of the antitrust challenge.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Nia Williams)
