Kirby WSJ Interview
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhKbjhR2CtM

Its 33 minutes and he doesn't pull any punches. He's brutally honest with her about a lot of things, and even his opinion of the WSJ.

The first half is mostly the EWR situation, which he explains that we have resolved this to our benefit with the FAA. The rest is Jetblue and what that partnership looks like plus his thoughts on the LCC model, which he says is dead.

WSJ "How is the American consumer today?"
Kirby: "A lot better than when I read the WSJ every day"
WSJ "Whoa burn!"

WSJ: "Did you think about buying Jetblue?"
Kirby: (laughing) "Mergers are hard and complicated. I've done two of them in my career. What we are looking for is a bigger presence for our frequent flyers and there are ways to do that without merging so that's what we've done here."


WSJ: "What about the budget airline model?"
Kirby: "It's dead. Its a "crappy model". The model was "screw the customer". The gimmick was to trick people with low fares, get them to come and then surprise them with a bunch of fees they aren't expecting. Their problem is they got big enough that they needed repeat customers, and they don't get them."

This guy. Karma Kirby! Lol

Enjoyable watch and glad to hear those positives about what demand and bookings are shaping up to be! Good news for the industry!

Oh we big mad huh?

Honestly, good interview. I enjoyed getting his perspective on the JB deal and a bit more clarity on EWR

Truth hurts, huh?

While I’d prefer a more toned down approach similar to Bastian, it’s hilarious how rent free Kirby lives in the minds of a few guys on here - like Cat1 and a few others.

It’s crazy to me how this distaste translates to feelings that somehow the pilot group props him up or in any way controls the way he shoots his mouth off. Jealousy of an airline’s success, frustration, schadenfreude, all of the above…?

A pat on the back and a kick in the a$$ is 6 inches apart. Won’t take much for Kirby’s decisions to look reckless in hindsight - and it probably will happen at some point. The fascinating thing to me is that a few on here would relish in the entire pilot group suffering because of it like we hold rallies for the guy like early 30s Germany. A very interesting “personality” for sure.

The dude who “prefers a more toned down approach” ends up comparing Kirby to Hitler. That escalated quickly.

Reading comprehension: F. I did nothing of the sort.