Dive Brief:
- United Airlines’ strategy to nurture brand loyal customers led to strong top-line performance and proved resilient during fuel price spikes, CEO Scott Kirby said during the airline’s Q2 2026 earning call Thursday.
- Total operating revenue rose 16% year over year to $17.7 billion, according to an earnings report. Revenue recovered about half the increase in fuel price for the period, according to Kirby.
- “United has proven that our brand loyal strategy is working, and we're using today's environment to accelerate our investment in all aspects of the customer experience, from nose to tail,” Kirby said. “My conviction in building a brand loyal airline is stronger than ever, and I'm encouraged by the consistent share gains we've seen across the board and the corresponding financial results.”
Dive Insight:
Amid the war in Iran and skyrocketing fuel prices, United is staying focused on serving its customers and proving the resilience of its brand loyalty strategy, according to Kirby.
“The more brand loyalty we have, the stronger we expect our earnings will be during good times, and the more resilient our earnings will be during industry shock events,” Kirby said. “And I can already see and hear from customers that getting Starlink on all our aircraft is going to be a step function increase and are attractive to those customers.”
The airline accelerated the rollout of free Starlink Wi-Fi during the quarter. It installed the service on 400 aircraft and is scheduled to have it available on nearly 1,000 aircraft by the end of the year.
“Starlink is another example of how we are investing in a better customer experience and differentiating United,” President Brett Hart said. “Early customer feedback has been very strong, and Wi-Fi satisfaction scores on Starlink equipped equipment are more than double the scores of other Wi-Fi operating aircraft.”
In the past six years, the carrier has focused its investments in the customer experience, but executives see Starlink as the most impactful. High-speed Wi-Fi is particularly of interest to premium customers, and executives predict it will lead to big share gains.
“I think Starlink is probably going to be the biggest of everything that we've done, and the feedback I get from customers is just unbelievably good when they get on a flight,” Kirby said.
Completion of key aircraft modification programs, including Starlink, seatback entertainment, larger overhead bins, is on the horizon, according to Andrew Nocella, EVP and chief commercial officer. The airlines’ United Next strategic plan will be largely complete in 2027, but more commercial and product initiatives are coming.
One such initiative launched Tuesday. The airline rolled out a new seat product, economy plus seats with extra elbow room and no middle seat.
The airline is also gaining market share in all of its hubs. In the Bay Area, for example, in the first quarter, United gained 3.4 percentage points year over year, according to Nocella.
“That was the best-performing share gain hub for United, but we gained in all of our hubs,” Nocella said. “We've done that consistently year after year, and I think it's simply we're offering a product that our customers love, and more and more people love it every day.”
Creating that loyalty also protects United from other airlines trying to undercut prices to a degree, Kirby said.
“Brand loyalty wins,” Kirby said. “That does give us a level of — not 100% does it give us immunity to what happens from a competitive perspective, but it gives us you know a lot of resistance to it.”
Premium revenue was up 16% year over year, basic economy revenue increased 11% year over year, and loyalty revenue grew 11% year over year, according to the earnings report.
