(The Hill) - United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby pitched a merger between his company and American Airlines during a Feb. 25 meeting with President Trump, Reuters reported on Monday. Kirby proposed the consolidation toward the end of a White House meeting on the future of Washington Dulles Internationa l Airport, the outlet noted.  Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched an initiative to “revitalize” Dulles in December; data from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority shows that 68.5 percent of commercial passengers passing through the airport in December flew United. Despite anti-Musk protests, Tesla remains best-selling car model in CA by a wide margin for 2025 In 2023, United and American ranked first and third, respectively, in revenue by passenger miles among U.S.-based commercial airlines, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A merger of the would create the largest airline in the world. The Hill has reached out to the White House, United and American for comment. Before joining United in 2016, Kirby became the president of American after it merged with U.S. Airways in 2013. Reaction to the reported proposal was swift among some Democratic lawmakers and antitrust experts. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), in response to a Bloomberg report about Kirby’s pitch, wrote Monday on social platform X, “That’s gonna be a no.” Matt Stoller, a researcher at the anti-monopolist American Economic Liberties Project, wrote Monday on X that such a merger would be “corporate crime” that is “now legal.”  Under Trump appointee Andrew Ferguson, the Federal Trade Commission — which has to greenlight mergers — has taken a friendlier stance toward mergers than it did under former Chair Lina Khan, who was appointed by former President Biden.  But antitrust lawyer Seth Bloom told Reuters that a merger between United and American would be unlikely to clear regulatory hurdles.  "The administration has said it really cares about the issues that affect the consumer's pocketbook, and this would give the airlines more pricing power," Bloom ​said of a consolidation. ...read more read less