WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday that while he does not mind mergers, he does not like a potential tie-up between United Airlines and American Airlines.
"I don't mind mergers," Trump said, adding he would "love somebody to buy" Spirit Airlines, Trump said in a CNBC interview. Spirit is currently in bankruptcy.
"But with American it's doing fine, and United is doing very well. I know the United people, they're doing very well. I don't like having them merge," he said.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby had pitched the potential for merging with American Airlines in a meeting with Trump in late February, sources said last week. American said on Friday it is not interested in a merger with United.
A combination of two of the largest U.S. network carriers would mark the biggest consolidation 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.
Spirit Airlines is a different story. The Biden administration went to court to block a proposed merger between Spirit and JetBlue in 2024, saying the combination would harm competition and raise fares. The move has since come under fire from Republicans as Spirit has struggled financially.
"It's 14,000 jobs, and maybe the federal government should help that one out," Trump said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Jody Godoy; editing by Michelle Nichols and Chris Sanders)
