View From Afar S1, E11: IPW 2025 | Josh Earnest, Executive Vice President of Communications and Advertising for United Airlines

I’m Michelle Baran, deputy editor at Afar. Welcome to View From Afar, a podcast that spotlights the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. And in this special series, I’m coming to you live from the floor of IPW, the annual travel conference organized by the U.S. Travel Association to share the best of America with the rest of the world.

In this episode, I’m sitting down with Josh Earnest, executive vice president of communications and advertising for United Airlines. United, of course, is one of the largest airlines in the world, and the U.S. carrier with the most comprehensive global route network.

In my work as Afar’s news editor, I cover the airline industry frequently, and I know that Josh is uniquely positioned to discuss the cross-section of travel and national policies not least because he served as White House Press Secretary during the Obama administration and as a political analyst for several news networks.

Josh and I discuss the major moves United has made recently, the role government plays in supporting air travel infrastructure, and where he sees United Airlines going from here.

Transcript

Michelle: Welcome, Josh! I’m so excited to have you here.

Josh: Thank you so much for having me.

Michelle: So there’s been a lot of interesting developments at United this year, including a massive international route expansion, an alliance with JetBlue and investment in the in-flight experience. Given all of this, what is United’s strategic vision for 2025 and beyond?

Josh: Yeah, well look, it has been an incredibly busy year at United and we have really big ambitions and so many of our ambitions, as you noted in the list, really do revolve around how we serve our customers. And that really is the organizing principle of all of the innovation that we’re seeking to capitalize on. So you mentioned our route network. There are about 144 international destinations alone that United serves. Thirty-four of them are destinations where United is the only US airline that serves them, and that is United looking for new markets for us to tap into and provide new opportunities for our customers to travel.

We’re also investing in our on board product. And so when people board a United plane, they can certainly expect a focus on innovation there too. And earlier this year, we rolled out the future of the interior of our international fleet, you know, our dual aisle aircraft, the 787-Dreamliner. And it has all kinds of features that you would expect, bigger screens. We’ve got WiFi on board, you know, we’ve got with starlink, over the course of this year, we’re installing WiFi on all of our fleet, it’ll be on all of our dual-aisle regional jets by the end of the year, but rolling out to the rest of the fleet in the years ahead. And so as we think about our big ambitions for the future, they really do revolve around our customers.

Michelle: I love to hear it. Before we get into more great innovations, we have to talk about Newark.

Josh: So people have been talking about it a lot this year, haven’t they?

Michelle: Let’s just get it out of the way. Let’s talk about the air traffic control disruptions and what that means for United flyers.

Josh: As anybody who’s flown in and out of Newark can tell you, it’s an airport that’s challenged, and particularly on days when the weather’s bad, particularly on busy travel days, Newark can be tough. And the thing that has really challenged Newark, frankly for years, is that it was scheduled over capacity. Meaning that there are more flights that were scheduled among all the airlines into Newark than the airport could handle. And you know, because of the big challenges that Newark experienced this spring, we had technology outages that were compounded by staffing challenges that were compounded by runway construction, that were compounded by weather.

Michelle: Right. Perfect storm, so to speak.

Josh: And there was just no way that an airport that was that challenged was going to be able to take on all those obstacles at once. And so this is an instance where United Airlines, a large business, did something that large businesses rarely asked the government to do, which is we asked for more regulation and the government stepped in and did that.

And what they have done is they have limited the number of flights into the airport at Newark. And since those schedule limits have gone into effect—and since the second runway has opened after that runway construction from the spring, so we’ve got a limited schedule, two functioning runways—and this is only like in the last two weeks. But since then, Newark is—and it’s not even that close—Newark is the most reliable, best operating airport in the New York area.

Michelle: I love to hear it.

Josh: Almost 85% of our flights took off and arrived on time, you know, either in or out of Newark in that two week period.

So that is an indication that Newark isn’t just back to business, Newark is back to running better than ever. And that will be in place through the summer. And we’ve gotten indications from the federal government that this is likely to be limits that are in place for some substantial period of time. They’ll have to make their own decisions about what that looks like in the future, but at least for the summer, people cannot just book with confidence knowing that Newark is going to operate well. Newark is actually an opportunity that I think a lot of people haven’t quite been dialed into yet. They don’t recognize that it actually is going to be much more reliable. And because people haven’t figured it out yet, there’s a pretty good chance that the ticket prices are going to be cheaper in Newark than they are at the other New York airports.

Michelle: You heard it here.

Josh: Big changes! But long overdue.

Michelle: So you brought up the government. I’d love to talk about some of the ways you’re hoping the government and federal policies can better support the airline industry. Obviously, with infrastructure issues and everything from border policies, there’s the real ID requirement, beefing up air traffic control. In general, how can the government better help you and ultimately us, the air travelers?

Josh: By far, the thing that they could do that would have the biggest impact on our system is actually invest in the infrastructure of air traffic control. So things like new technology—some of the technology that is currently being used in our system is generations old, right? Like technology that exceeds the age of you and me.

Michelle: *Laughs* It’s time for an upgrade.

Josh: It is time for an upgrade, and I don’t want to suggest that it’s unsafe. In fact, the reason they’re relying on that old technology is because they know that it is safe.

But what innovation in this space and investment in this space would look like, would infuse the system with much better efficiency, which would mean shorter flight times, shorter taxi times, quicker routes, which by the way would also actually be really good for the environment.

Would be burning less fuel as we get from place to place. Those investments also were needed in terms of staffing, you know, some of the Newark challenges that we were talking about earlier were compounded by not having enough trained air traffic controllers on duty at Newark.

So, what do we do to get more air traffic controllers and how do we speed up that training or at least make that training more efficient? And then lastly, it’s good old fashioned investment in infrastructure, meaning towers. I was looking at the statistic recently that the Department of Transportation spends like 94% of their facilities budget on maintenance and only 6% on investment in new infrastructure and new facilities.

Josh: That is not the right proportion. They should be investing much more, in new. And so, and one of the reasons that they have to spend all of that money on maintenance is that, is the infrastructure so old, right? So it’s time to, to start investing in new facilities that would be much more efficient.

Michelle: Well, and it seems like at the very least, Newark was a wake up call in that regard, so—

Josh: I hope so. I hope so. It certainly did spark greater interest in this area and, you know, in a particularly, in a political environment where things are so polarized, this actually should be the kind of issue that brings people together, right?

Michelle: It’s better for everyone.

Josh: This is the entire American traveling public that would benefit from an investment

Michelle: Absolutely. So I’m just curious, along the lines of the government, if United supports efforts like the FAA airline customer service dashboard and sort of improving refund and compensation transparency to enhance flyers rights.

Josh: We were very engaged with the FAA in the previous administration that had really made that a priority. It’s unclear if the current administration is going to make those kinds of enforcement policies the same kind of priority. And our message on this has been pretty consistent, which is, we’re for anything that improves [the] customer’s experience, many of those enforcement regulations we’re actually targeted toward the low cost carriers that don’t provide the same kind of services that we do.

So anything that improves the customer experience across the industry is the kind of thing that we’re going to be supportive of. You know, should the government be doing that using a stick as opposed to a carrot, we could probably have a debate about that.

But the one thing that we shouldn’t debate or really is above debate, is that the much bigger impact and the better placed focus of the FAA would be on that investment in facilities and infrastructure and technology and staffing. That is going to have a much more profound effect than check marks on a dashboard.

Michelle: Fair. That’s fair. So we’re here at IPW, and there’s a lot of excitement about America 250, and all that is great about this country. But we’re seeing a dip in international inbound travel. How does the current climate of changing perceptions about what it means to travel to America and some of the fears and concerns international travelers may have affect your operations? And are there ways in which United is working to help combat those perceptions?

Josh: In terms of the impact on United, we actually have not seen much of an impact because so much of our business is focused on U.S. travelers going overseas, as opposed to the other way around. About 80 to 85% of our international travel is U.S. point of sale, meaning people buying tickets inside the United States to go other places, right?

But you asked a harder question, which is, what are international travelers coming to the United States thinking, and do they feel, because of some of the policies that we’ve seen put in place, are they scared to travel to the United States?

And I think what I would say is, I don’t want to be in a position of defending our democracy and our government policies right now. But what I will say is that democracy’s messy, and it has been for 250 years. But I think what international visitors will find when they come to the United States is not that everybody in the United States agrees on everything. We certainly don’t. But what has allowed us to survive, actually even thrive for the last 250 years is that despite those differences, the vast majority of people that live here are spending a lot of their time figuring out how do we build communities and a country that’s better and how do we build a country for our kids that’s going to be better?

And that does, in a way, no pun intended, unite us in ways that contribute to a really rich, diverse country. And I would encourage people to not judge America based on what our politicians say or what they say on social media, but come here and see up close what it is like to live in America. You won’t be disappointed. This is a complicated place, but it’s a beautiful place worth visiting.

Michelle: Absolutely. Totally agree. Of course. So I’m just curious, you mentioned, obviously United’s very focused on the U.S. you know, outbound market. How do you adjust your route network planning to any kind of shifting demand and are you looking to add or reduce capacity in certain domestic or international regions in response to any of that?

You know, there’s been a lot of talk about there’s more domestic travel this year because some of the inbound concerns also are outbound concerns U.S. travelers. So they’re like, maybe I just stay closer to home this year. So, I’m just curious, when you see those shifting tides, how do you address them?

Josh: Yeah, look, this is a great question and the answer to this question is different now than it was before COVID. There are so many ways in which the pandemic really stressed our business, and one of them was designing our network. And it, what that means is it means that our network team has become more nimble and our operations team has become more nimble to adjust to the changes in demand that we’re seeing and to adjust our schedule accordingly.

And we’ve gotten really, really good at that. And so there are some changes that we’re making. We’re definitely leaning into international. We do see that as an opportunity, and particularly when you consider the hubs that United has in places like Chicago and Newark and San Francisco. These are great points to launch international travel from the United States. And so we have been exploring new destinations. I mentioned that there are 34 international destinations that no other the U.S. airlines serves other than United Airlines. So we really do pride ourselves as being the flag carrier of the United States, but it also applies to our domestic schedule as well.

And one of the changes that we’ve been making to our winter schedule has been to add more warm weather, even more warm weather flying. And so when you just take a place like Chicago, for example, this winter we’ll actually be increasing our capacity to warm weather destinations like Florida and Phoenix and other places on the West coast by as much as 15 or 20% just in the winter season, because we see those demand trends, particularly in places like Chicago where people want to escape the winter and go find some warm weather for a break. I speak from my own personal experience when I say that. So it’s common sense that we are doing more of that.

Michelle: Well, as somebody who resides in the Bay Area, if you want continue to add exciting routes, SFO, I’m here for it.

Josh: Well, we are. I mean, hopefully you’ve even noticed that even in the last year.

Michelle: Oh, yes, I have noticed!

Josh: Yeah. San Francisco is a place where we are really excited about the opportunity to add.

Michelle: I am, too.

Josh: Yeah. Good! You know, San Francisco is a place where being able to launch international travel, particularly to Asia, is such a rich business opportunity. We have been very interested in thinking about what are the opportunities that exist in the Asia Pacific for United, and anytime that we want to capitalize on those opportunities, we’re going to do it from San Francisco.

Michelle: Yeah, I love to hear it. We all get really excited about new routes. I mean, it’s such a travel industry geeky thing,

Josh: That’s right.

Michelle: Because it does, it changes everything. It changes like the whole math of where you’re going to go and changes, you know, so it is very exciting to keep an eye on what’s in the pipeline.

So I’m just curious, with the change in demand, travelers always want to know if they should expect to see more airfare deals this year, just given that there is a little bit of a softening in demand.

Josh: I think it depends a lot on where you want to go, right? I think as usual deals are out there. What I also think is true though is that travel demand is hanging in there. For all of the uncertainty and even volatility that we’re seeing in some parts of the economy, I people are excited about the opportunity to travel. And the outlook continues to be good in terms of demand and people’s willingness to travel. That said, other airlines are seeing that too. And so I think the advice I would have for travelers is to shop around and to look and see what opportunities are available to them.

The thing that we are trying to do at United, though, is to really invest in our customer experience. And, we talk about this from the standpoint of giving customers more for the fare that they’re paying. And so it sometimes means that we don’t offer the very cheapest fair. Yeah. But when you do book with United, there’s a lot that you get in terms of that onboard customer experience, the convenience of our schedule, the reliability of our operation, the convenience of our app. So while we go to great lengths to be competitive, even if we are not the lowest price, we are offering the most value.

Michelle: So is that what you think it’s going to ultimately take to win air travelers going forward? It sounds like that’s where your focus is.

Josh: That is absolutely the bet that we’re making, that we are making a bet on what our CEO calls, brand loyal customers. There is so much that you get when you buy a ticket on United and that brand loyalty is what we are looking to capitalize on. And it’s been great for our business over the last couple of years and we expect that to be true for many years ahead.

Michelle: So lastly, what is your hope for the future of the air travel industry, and where would you like to see air travel in 10 to 20 years from now?

Josh: Yeah, two things. One is I do think that there is more work that the industry needs to do to focus on being better for the planet. There are a lot of innovations just over the horizon that will make air travel more sustainable. United is at the leading edge of that. The kind of investments that we’re making in things like sustainable aviation fuel, even in new types of aircraft that would burn significantly less fuel. This is not like a two or three or even five year proposition; this is more in the spirit of your 10 to 20 year question. But the other thing is the customer experience and continuing to really push ourselves to think about how can we make air travel more comfortable, more reliable, more convenient, more enjoyable for our customers.

Michelle: More fun!

Josh: And more fun, exactly.

Michelle: I love to hear it.

Thank you so much for joining us, Josh.

Josh: Thank you for having me. It’s so nice to see you.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of View From Afar. In the show notes, you’ll find links to the topics we discussed, United’s website and social handles, and links to some of our recent coverage of United. And be sure to follow along this week to hear more interviews with travel industry experts.

You can find more Views From Afar on afar.com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok. We’re @AfarMedia. If you enjoyed today’s exploration, I hope you’ll come back for more great interviews. Subscribing always makes that easy. And be sure to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platforms. It helps other travelers find it.

This has been View From Afar, a production of Afar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Michelle Baran and Billie Cohen. Music composition from Epidemic Sound. This podcast is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Visit AirwaveMedia.com to listen and subscribe to their other fine shows like Culture Kids and The Explorers Podcast.