John Scott Kirby (born August 13, 1967) is an American executive and the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

. He was president of

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

, and United Airlines, later being promoted as CEO.

Early life and education

Kirby was raised in

Rowlett, Texas Rowlett (, traditionally ) is a city in Dallas and Rockwall Counties in Texas, United States, and an eastern suburb of Dallas. It is a growing, upscale community with nearly $1.5 billion in development in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, loc ...

, the oldest of six children. In high school, he played baseball and football, and had aspirations of becoming a professional athlete. He received a bachelor's degree in computer science and operations research in 1989 from the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

, where he trained to be a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. He later earned a master's degree in

operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

Career

Early in his career, Kirby worked at

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

as a budget analyst for the

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, a ...

for three years. He later worked for Sabre Decision Technologies (SDT), a subsidiary of AMR Corporation within the tourism and transport industries. Kirby joined

America West Airlines America West Airlines was an airline in the United States that operated from 1981 until it merged with US Airways in 2007. It was headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. Its main hub was at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, with secondary hubs ...

in 1995, working in various executive roles. Kirby began as president of

in September 2006, after it merged with America West in 2005. He led US Airways' team for planning the merger. Kirby became president of

after the company merged with US Airways in 2013. He and American Airlines

Doug Parker worked closely together at America West, US Airways, and American. Kirby became president of

in August 2016. He was announced as the successor to the CEO role in December 2019, following Oscar Munoz; his tenure started in May 2020. Kirby has been credited with expanding the airline's flight network, and restructuring hubs in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. In December 2020, Kirby was elected as chairman of the

Star Alliance Star Alliance is an airline alliance headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. Founded on 14 May 1997, it was the world's first global airline alliance. Star Alliance has 25 member airlines that operate a combined fleet of over 5,000 aircraft, servi ...

chief executive board (CEB), succeeding former chairman Pedro Heilbron. In August 2021, Kirby told

Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...

about his decision to mandate all United employees to get the

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

, claiming he's had dozens of employees die from COVID "and 100% of them are unvaccinated." As of 2025, Kirby's compensation as CEO was $33.9 million.

Personal life

Kirby is married and has seven children. He has donated money to both Republican and Democratic politicians, and donated to Steve Bullock's Presidential campaign in 2020.

References

External links

J Scott Kirby
at Bloomberg.com
One-on-one with United president Scott Kirby
(March 31, 2019) by Chris McGinnis, ''San Francisco Chronicle'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Scott Living people George Washington University alumni 1967 births American airline chief executives American Airlines people United Airlines people United States Air Force Academy alumni