Considering United was the worldwide launch customer and we have the 1st 777 that was ever built still flying I would say we have the oldest ones. I was in new hire when they were being delivered and remember watching it pull into a gate at DEN for the first time ever. A brand new airport and a brand new plane.

Those were last "remodeled" under the old regime when cost cutting was everything. They took out the screens because the had weight and required maintenance (costs) and according to the leadership at the time "everybody brings their own screen anyway." Then when you asked them why no charging ports throughout the cabin so people could actually use the screens they brought onboard for an entire 8 hour flight, they pointed you back to step one --- Reduce COSTS!!!

Unfortunately, those decisions still haunt us, as I doubt they will redo an interior on a 30+ year old airplane. I guess if they do, that will be our indication that those planes are going to be around awhile. As they come due for their next heavy check, it will be interesting to see what if anything "extra" is done.

The biggest takeaway from this interview was Kirby reiterating previous EPS guidance. Even with the EWR issues United will be in the middle of the guidance range. This after a bunch of airlines pulled their anual forecasts. UA is printing money right now.

We generated $9.4B in Operating cash flow in 2024 full year. That's INSANE. We used $6B of that to buy new planes, meaning buy them outright without taking on debt and then spent $4B of cash on not only making existing debt repayments but early extinguishing long term debt payment in the future, which will only increase net profits going forward. This is while other carriers are bleeding cash and their debt is increasing.

Q1 2025 we generated $3.7B of cash flow, in what is usually a slower quarter. We will likely generate over $12B in cash in 2025, which we will need since 2026 and 2027 are massive plane orders being delivered.

We are definitely in front of the wave and its just getting better.

And the F/A and other future contracts are already in the numbers. UA's no excuses stance also implies even this might be underpromising. Impressive.

Kirby never wastes an opportunity to make a complete fool of himself.

The kool-aid is strong with this one. 40,000 pilot group and flying Boom jets & 787’s to the Moon by 2030 with these numbers!

Kirby and his network team came to UA in 2016

......... AA...................UA (Profit-losss/# of Aircraft/ORD passenger share

2015: 7.6/946/39%....7.3/715/38%
2016: 2.6/930............2.2/737
2017: 1.3/948............2.1/744
2018: 1.4//956...........2.1/770
2019: 1.7/942/37%.....3.0/777/43%
2020: -8.9/855..........-7.1/812
2021: -2.0/865..........-2.0/826
2022: 0.1/925/31%.....0.7/868/47%
2023: 0.8/965/29%.....2.6/945/49%
2024: 0.8/977/29%.....3.1/994/51%

The numbers are taken directly from financial statements. They are also in the summaries United posted. They aren't aspirational. They are factual. You can view all the financial reports here. https://ir.united.com/

Never said boom jet anything, I think its a gimmick and not economical. Never said 40,000 pilot group. Management (not me) said 28,000 by 2030 based on firm deliveries and we already have over 18,800 pilots and we are hearing anywhere from 2,500-3,000 next year with only about 500 retirements.

The biggest delivery years aren't even here yet. 2026 and 2027 are massive delivery with 787s, MAX 9, A320 NEO and XLR, and possible MAX 10. We've been crushing them in ORD. They made a mistake removing all that flying because now they can't get gate space back.