United Still Wants American. The Airline Industry Is Bleeding.

Airline Profits Just Got Cut in Half — and United Still Wants to Buy American

The global airline industry takes a brutal hit as profits are slashed nearly in half, global travel growth turns negative for the first time this year, and United's CEO is still publicly chasing a merger American keeps refusing.

On today's Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy breaks down why the Iran war has upended what was supposed to be a strong year for airlines and left the Middle East as the only region posting an outright loss, what it means that global travel momentum has quietly flipped negative for the first time in 2026, and why Scott Kirby keeps the American Airlines merger idea alive even as American keeps saying no.

Articles Referenced: Honorable Mention: @AskAConcierge on IG

Middle East Airlines Face $4.3 Billion Loss — the Only Region in the Red

Global Travel Growth Has Turned Negative for the First Time This Year

United CEO Still Wants a Merger With American

Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift

Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.