United’s Kirby Says Smaller Deal Would Be Tougher Than American

Scott Kirby signaled that acquiring a smaller airline may be more trouble than it’s worth.

“Doing a merger takes a lot of calories and a lot of energy,” the United Airlines Holdings Inc. chief executive officer said in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday. But “the hurdle is a whole lot higher for a small airline than it is for a big airline, for me.”

The comments come on the heels of his lengthy statement from earlier this week laying out all the reasons a combination between United and rival American Airlines Group Inc. would have made ...