United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) is looking at options on how to grow its presence at New York JFK once it enters the coveted hub next year. Among these ideas is the possibility of buying slots from other carriers, according to chief executive Scott Kirby.

In an interview with CNBC, Kirby claimed: “We got a bunch of irons in the fire to try to find ways to do it,” and purchasing slots from carriers that are flying unprofitable routes out of JFK is one of the possibilities.

In May 2025, both JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) and United Airlines announced a new partnership which included United gaining access to slots at JFK for up to seven daily round-trip flights out of Terminal 6.

The company has not yet unveiled which routes it will operate from JFK. It will most likely do so on August 25, 2026, at 1900L (2300Z) alongside its next batch of international routes across the map.

Kirby also said that one of the main pending tasks for the company is to grow its presence both in South America and in the southeast United States. However, the lack of opportunities to build new hubs is hurting these plans.

“Those are two places that are holes for United that are hard to fix on a stand-alone basis,” he said.