United Airlines is looking for additional opportunities to expand at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport even before its planned return in 2027, as the carrier attempts once again to establish a meaningful presence at a major airport it abandoned more than a decade ago.
CEO Scott Kirby told CNBC that United is exploring ways to obtain additional JFK slots, potentially including transactions with smaller airlines operating flights with low margins or at a loss. “We got a bunch of irons in the fire to try to find ways to do it,” Kirby said.
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United already has a path back into JFK through its Blue Sky partnership with JetBlue. Announced in 2025, the agreement provides United access to slots for up to seven daily round trips from the airport, with operations expected to begin as early as 2027.
The two airlines are not merging and will continue to operate independently. Their partnership includes reciprocal frequent-flyer benefits and other commercial cooperation, while JetBlue agreed to provide United with JFK slots in exchange for eight United flight timings at Newark Liberty International Airport.
Return more than a decade after leaving JFK
United's relationship with JFK has been complicated. The airline left the airport in 2015 after deciding to concentrate its New York-area operations at Newark, where it had a much larger network.
Kirby, who was not United's CEO when the decision was made, later described leaving JFK as a strategic mistake. The withdrawal weakened the airline's position with some corporate customers that wanted access to JFK, particularly for premium transcontinental travel to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
United returned in 2021 with flights from JFK to those two California markets, but the experiment lasted less than two years. The airline withdrew again in October 2022 after failing to secure enough additional slots to build what it considered a competitive operation.
That same constraint remains at the center of its latest attempt. JFK is one of the most capacity-constrained airports in the United States, and takeoff and landing slots cannot simply be added by an airline wanting to increase service.
The seven daily round trips available through JetBlue therefore provide United with a way back into the airport, but Kirby's comments indicate the airline wants considerably more flexibility than it had during its previous return.
Newark problems add another reason
United remains by far the largest airline at Newark, which is the foundation of its New York-area network. That concentration, however, has also exposed the carrier to operational problems at the airport.
Newark experienced severe disruption in 2025 amid air traffic control staffing shortages, equipment failures and runway constraints. United was disproportionately affected because of the scale of its operation there and temporarily reduced its schedule.
JFK would not replace Newark as United's principal New York gateway, but a larger operation could give the airline another way to serve the region while reducing some of the disadvantages of relying so heavily on a single airport.
