Gone Tripping: United CEO Scott Kirby & Psychedelic Therapy 4/22/26

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0:35Access new online courses, insightful webcasts, articles, engaging videos, and more. All curated just for traders. Plus, guided learning paths with content designed to fit your unique interests. And no sifting to find exactly what you need, so you can spend your time learning to trade brilliantly. Learn more at schwab.com slash trading. Bring in show music, please. Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod, a couple of trips coming your way. We're taking off with United CEO Scott Kirby. He responds to President Trump, who said right on CNBC that he would not support a merger between United and American Airlines.

1:17We have not at United commented on all the, I know there's lots of rumors, lots of stories about consolidation. we've not commented and I'm not going to start that today. And when surging jet fuel prices could hit your ticket fares. We are passing through right now about 40 to 50 percent of the increase in fuel. It's faster than I can ever remember in my career. And we expect to get to 100 percent by the end of the year. It does have some impact this year. Then flying high in a metaphysical kind of way. An executive order from the president pushed psychedelic stocks a little higher. Investor Christian Angermeyer explains the opportunity.

1:53Psychedelics are amazing and wonderful therapeutics, but they are very strong, positively strong. That's why they actually have a responder rate in the clinical trials for the worst cases of treatment-resistant depression, addiction, anxiety disorders, whatever, of up to 80%. It's a trip. I grew up in the 70s. I'm not going to say anything more than that. Plus, the confirmation hearing for the next Fed chair and following President Trump's comments to us. You can have some extra time if you want. You can even put Andrew on the phone. Yes, all of us. That was you. Yeah, some guy, some CNBC host.

2:36It is Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026. Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand Becky by in three, two, one. Cue it, please. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We are live from the Nasdaq market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick, along with Joe Kernan and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

3:03Mr. Warsh, any comment on Powell and the ongoing investigation? This committee will come to order. Mr. Warsh, you are now recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your consideration today. I've known you for quite President Trump's big pick to be the next Fed chair facing some tough questions at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. Senators from both sides of the aisle questioned Kevin Walsh's finances. He also questioned his relationship to the president. Walsh emphasized the importance of Fed independence and said independence is not threatened when elected officials state their views on rates.

3:35He said he has reached an agreement with the Office of Government Ethics to sell nearly all of his investments before taking office if he's confirmed. and worse signaled a strong focus on the fight against inflation. Take a look. This inflation risk is still something that's being talked about around kitchen tables and boardrooms. My preferred definition of stable prices is a little different than most academics. I believe that price stability should be a change in prices such that no one's talking about it. That's an old-fashioned definition, but I think it's still valid. And of course, questions still remain about what Senator Tom Tillis will ultimately do.

4:13And if there's some kind of back channel efforts to either try to end that investigation, move it into hearings, as David McCormick tried to suggest, the president seemed yesterday with us saying that was not on the table. I have my disagreements with Chairman Powell, and I think this project, this new Fed building, looks to me like something that really did get wildly out of control. But I don't think there's any reason to believe there's criminal activity, criminal misconduct on his part. So what I hope is going to happen, and I'm optimistic it will, is that we can find a way through this path.

4:47There's definitely things going on around the edges of this hearing trying to make this happen sooner rather than later. A CNBC host, it says here in the journal, in a call interview on CNBC, before the hearing, the president rebuffed the television host's repeated suggestion to end the probe by letting the banking committee. That was you. Yeah, some guy, some CNBC host, who also, we're going to talk to Dan Murphy, who also, I tried to keep telling him, you'll delay this, if there's any chance that the negotiations could bear fruit. You'd probably delay the ceasefire, right? And he goes, no, I'm ready to bomb.

5:28Remember? Yes. I said that. I think because sort of posturing with Iran. Before expending ceasefire for two weeks. That's part of his art of the deal, though. He's always trying to anchor it to the... But instead of me thinking, oh, he chickened out at Saco Tuesday, I was like, thank God he, you know, you need to tread very lightly here. Yeah, you need to tread lightly. You don't, you know, because I don't know if you do that with with Democrats are great. You know, it's going to be war crimes if you bomb bridges or power plants. But then when he doesn't do it, he's a chicken. So it's it's damned if you do and damned if you don't.

6:05But let's get to President Trump extending the U.S. ceasefire with Iran. He says the extension was warranted because nobody knows who's in charge. Half of them are dead because Tehran's government is seriously fractured. Let's get to Dan Murphy in Abu Dhabi. uh dan it could be the guy in parliament it could be this uh this scary guy who heads up the irgc it could be the guy that we don't even know if he's woken up from a coma yet the the ayatollah uh and there's three or four other factions that that weigh in as well so who are we negotiating with and how do you uh at some point get to a an agreement that actually the people in charge are are on the other end of it.

6:48How do you get there? Well, Joe, this seems to be part of the problem. And I think one of the questions being asked in Washington right now is who in Tehran is actually in a position to say yes? And clearly that was part of the reason we saw the ceasefire talks planned for Islamabad essentially ending before they even began. Meanwhile, the ceasefire is in effect, it's fair to say. But in the Strait of Hormuz, it seems like the war is far from over. Iran actually fired on two ships in the strait this morning. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre confirming two separate incidents involving a container ship and a cargo ship.

7:26Tehran saying those vessels ignored warnings, but the British military says an Iranian gunboat opened fire without warning. Iran is likely responding here after we saw US forces boarding a tanker linked to Tehran's oil trade this week and seized an Iranian ship last weekend. Of course, the strait remains functionally closed right now, and that is keeping oil prices well-beared. And then on the diplomatic front as well, President Trump moving to extend the ceasefire just hours after his interview right here on Squawk Box. The president saying he expected to be bombing if Iran didn't meet his conditions, but ultimately he chose diplomacy.

8:04So as it stands right now, we still don't know how long this ceasefire is going to last or if there is still a chance for a diplomatic off-ramp. We are almost two months into this conflict. The messaging that I'm hearing from the Gulf this morning is that given the fact we have no deal on Iran's nuclear program, no deal on its missiles, its drones or its proxies, and a ceasefire with no off-ramp, there's a lot of concern about which way this goes from here. And in fact, one former U.S. ambassador actually told me today, the longer this drags on, the harder it is to put to an end. Let's back over to you.

8:39Right. Well, sooner or later, there's going to be no place for the oil to go on Kargan. And they're going to have to shut it down. And then it takes a long time to open it up again. So the blockade is in effect. And that that that's going to continue. But we could hear any time Vance is headed back there or I don't know. We'll watch for two social. This morning, I saw Babylon B things that Trump jails man for not paying attention to this matter. it's a joke you know he always says uh thank you for your attention to this matter uh dan thanks one other thing about the the hearing i mean elizabeth warren comes on here she can be very um tough and and i i think she was yes she can be very but do you guys remember and you probably won't cop to it but her letters to jay powell for years all wanted her him to do the same thing Cut rates.

9:33So now she, and this is pointed out in the journal, now she's absolutely grilling Kevin Warsh that he might do what she's been arguing for Jay Powell to do for years. Because now it's something Trump wants. So if Trump wants it, now she doesn't want it anymore. I know what, I know, I saw, I was watching. And he's made clear that you are his sock puppet, saying last week that interest rates will drop, quote, when Kevin gets in. Yeah, I think they do. Not when economic conditions change, we'll get lower rates. Not when the economy needs it. Nope. He said, when my guy, Kevin Warsh, is in there, we'll get the interest rates that I, Donald Trump, want.

10:15Name one aspect of President Trump's economic agenda with which you disagree. Well, Senator, the Federal Reserve in recent years has wandered outside of its remit, wandered into other areas. That's not something I'm prepared to do. If I'm confirmed, the Federal Reserve should stay in its lane. She was, I thought. I don't think it mattered who was going to be the nominee. Is he a horrible person? Do you have to assume he's a horrible person? No, but I don't think it mattered. Did you watch? I did. I don't think it mattered. Were you not just going, oh my God. Well, yeah, because the assumption that he's a guilty guy and he's a bad guy because he's wealthy and because she kind of berated him for bringing up Stan Druckenmiller as somebody he was thanking in his opening comments.

10:58She used a nasty word for Druckenmiller, too. Yeah, well, she called him a billionaire. No, it was like a Trump name for Druckenmiller. But look, I think it doesn't matter because Elizabeth Warren's concern is that whoever is nominated under this Trump administration is going to be a sock puppet, in her words. Basically, it didn't matter who was going to be sitting there. She would have asked the same questions on some of these things. And it's not a surprise that he got a tough grilling. We kind of knew that was coming. Because of his personal wealth? No, yes, because... Because anybody who would accept the appointment from Trump supposedly has an agreement with him to do what he wants.

11:39And that's the way the president has kind of seen this. So it wouldn't have mattered which of the four leading names was up there. She would have asked the same questions of this. Now, that doesn't mean that these aren't valid questions to ask about independence, but she did ask it in a particularly um scott kirby's gonna be on yeah today in a little bit we'll talk airlines talk him into that you're gonna talk we're gonna talk him into the merger we'll see about that i mean you heard what the president said i don't think talking him into the merger i'm gonna talk him into it too i can talk him into a lot of things even letting you oh yeah oh you're gonna talk the president into it i had to i had to and then he said That was classic.

12:15I do one-on-ones with him all the time. That's what I do. And I could have done that yesterday, but went to great lengths to make it an all-playing end, which is classic. It's just really funny how clueless. What are they, the nattering nabobs of media? What do we call them? Anyway, it was great that all of us got to be involved. All right, speaking of United Airlines, reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenue, but the company did slash its 2026 forecast, in part because of high jet fuel prices. For the second quarter, it expects earnings in the range of$1 to$2 a share, and that is below what the Wall Street consensus of$2.08 is.

12:57United's CEO Scott Kirby will be joining us. This is a first on CNBC interview. Phil Obeau is going to be leading that up. The stock this morning is up by better than 2.4 percent. United CEO Scott Kirby is up next. Demand has remained strong. We do anticipate that will turn into some kind of elasticity effect if there's a 15 to 20 percent increase in fares that is going to at some point drive less demand. We frankly haven't seen it in our booking yet. SquawkPod will be right back.

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14:59Welcome back to Squawk Pod from CNBC. Here's Joe Kernan. As promised, let's get to Phil Lebeau now with United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. Hey, Phil. Hey, Joe. Thank you very much. Scott, thank you for joining us today from United Airlines headquarters in Chicago. I want to start with Q1 results. You beat on the top and the bottom line, But it's more the guidance I want to talk about. You've cut your full year guidance in large part because of the uncertainty about jet fuel prices. We pretty much know what what's expected for the industry in the second quarter. What should we expect for the rest of the year?

15:33Are we looking at higher for longer jet fuel prices? Yeah. So, you know, first, I'm incredibly proud of the United team. And I think our first quarter results and frankly, our full year guidance is indicative of it's another proof point of what we've done at United to build a great brand loyal airline. that has the resiliency to get through the inevitable crises and shocks that hit the industry. We've had a doubling of fuel prices as we got through the end of the quarter and still be solidly profitable and grow earnings year over year is a pretty remarkable achievement. But I think the bigger point is really about, as you look forward, that we are passing through right now about 40 to 50 percent of the increase in fuel.

16:10That's faster than I can ever remember in my career. And we expect to get to 100 percent by the end of the year. It does have some impact this year. It's not realistic to get it all passed through this year, but we think we'll be at it by 100 percent by the end of the year. So feel really good about the strategy and the setup that United had to get into this, that we can be delivering still, but we're delivering solid results, even with the rapid increase in fuel prices. And you're passing those through in the terms of airfare increases. We'll talk a little bit more about that in a bit, but I want to get to the elephant in the room, Scott, which is what the comments were yesterday from the president of the United States when he was talking on Squawk Box and this idea of you potentially buying American Airlines, which you discussed with a White House official in February.

16:54We asked him about this. Joe asked him about it. And here's what he had to say. And then I'd like to get your reaction afterwards. I don't like it. No, I don't mind mergers. I think I'd love somebody to buy Spirit as an example. You know, Spirit's in trouble. And I'd love somebody to buy Spirit. It's 14 ,000 jobs. And maybe the federal government should help that one out. You know, I tell my people, but with American, it's doing fine. And United is doing very well. I know the United people, they're doing very well. I don't like having them merge. It's just like all of these aerospace companies, defense companies and aerospace.

17:27All right, Scott, what's your reaction to what the president says? He doesn't like the idea of you potentially buying American. Well, I love the fact that the president knows that United is doing very well, which he's right. We are doing very well and I'm really proud of the team for doing that. We have not at United commented on all the, I know there's lots of rumors, lots of stories about consolidation. We've not commented and I'm not going to start that today. But what I will do is repeat some of the things that I've said in the past. We've been on a mission here at United to build a great airline for customers that creates value to customers.

18:01And we win customers because we provide a great product, a great value for those customers. And we've been talking about the fact that we want to create a truly globally competitive airline for the United States. And today we have a big trade deficit with international carriers. Many of them are, you know, effectively state owned and state subsidized. And they fly 65 percent of the long haul seats into the U.S. and only about 40 percent of the customers are from those countries. And that's bad for United Airlines. That's bad for U.S. aviation. That's bad for U.S. workers. We create some of the best jobs and careers at United Airlines of anywhere in the country.

18:37And that's bad for the country. And so, yeah, I've been thinking about ways for the last couple of years. How can we solve that and create a great U.S. airline that all U.S. citizens can be proud of, that competes on every facet around the globe? Well, Scott, wait, I have to go back at you on this. You say you don't want to comment on rumors. If this is not true, if you never brought the idea of buying American up to somebody at the White House, why don't you just come out and say, wait a second, that's a bunch of malarkey. What you're saying here is, here's the case for us to be a bigger, more global airline, but you're not commenting on whether or not you actually have proposed this idea to somebody at the White House.

19:15And I think people are entitled to know, did you actually bring up this idea to somebody at the White House and said, look, it would make sense for United to buy American? What I'm describing is our aspiration to create a great airline for customers, or customers choose us because of quality. Not just the, we try to decommoditize, we have decommoditized air travel here in the United States, and we've proved that that's a winning strategy. Our first quarter guidance, our ability to actually be still solidly profitable, even with the doubling of fuel prices, has proven that's the right strategy.

19:44And so the aspiration we have is to actually take that to the next level and be a great globally competitive airline. I'm not saying what is required to make that happen today. I don't actually have all the answers today. But that's the aspiration that we have is to build a great globally competitive airline. Scott, we were talking about this in that you were running American, basically. And it was a shock when I think Oscar poached you. And it was a coup, obviously, for United. So you know what goes on in America. There was conjecture. Why would you leave if you were going to be running American?

20:18so you must have had a good reason. You probably know where all the bodies are buried and where all the problems are and the union issues and everything else. If anyone could fix it, maybe it's you. Would it definitely be a bad idea? And my idea is you get another great operator like Bastion and you guys split up everything. And then no one raises fares and all the operations get better, the public benefits. Newark becomes an even better hub for the Kernan family. and it just makes a lot of sense. Scott? Well, Joe, thanks for some of the kind comments about me. And by the way, on Newark, Newark is now, thank you to the DOT for finally doing what we've asked them to do about managing Newark.

21:00We're just almost a year past what happened at Newark last year, and Newark is now the best, the most reliable of the three New York airports. It's still the New York airspace. It's still the toughest place in the world to fly. But Newark has become the best, and we just want to keep making it better. And so, look, our, you know, from all my, you know, certainly for the last 15 years of my career, my vision and my goal has been to really build a decommoditized brand loyal airline. And I thought that was right for our customers and that if we could give customers a great airline, that they would reward us by choosing to fly on us.

21:34And that would lead to better financial results. So everything that we've done has been about that. Everything we've done in the years leading up to today, we've proven here in the first quarter that that strategy has been the winning strategy for a U.S. airline. And we're going to continue to invest, and we're going to continue to do that. You did, Nancy. Could you fix America? Could you fix it? I mean, you can look at the stock. Look at the stock. Go ahead. Well, look, I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on that right now. But I have described the vision that we have at United. Irrespective of anything that happens with consolidation or the rumors about consolidation, we want to be the best in the globe.

22:14And I think United is a unique position to aspire to do that. We have great people. We have great product. We've been making massive investments for years. I guess now I'm 100 % convinced. I've become more and more convinced, like every quarter, that the strategy that we had has worked to really focus on how do you make travel better for customers. We've got some ideas coming that I think are not just going to evolutionize travel. We're going to revolutionize what it means when you travel, even out of tough airports like Newark, that we are transparent about communication, that we minimize the impact of delays, not only minimize them, but we just communicate with you so well that, you know, there's some weather in Newark today.

22:52I don't need to go to the airport this earlier. Here's what's happening with my flight. We want to revolutionize what it means to fly for customers. Hey, Scott, let me ask you about what's happening around the globe. Yesterday, the head of the IEA said that Europe has about six weeks of jet fuel left because of what's happening in the Gulf. Lufthansa, today we're hearing Lufthansa is canceling 20 ,000 short haul flights in the continent to try and preserve some of that jet fuel. Are you looking at your operations headed to Europe at this point? And at what point would the situation with the jet fill cause you to change your schedules and the flights that you are taking there?

23:31We are watching it closely. And there is some risk around the globe. Asia and Europe are probably the two first places that are likely to be hotspots. At the moment, everything that we can see still feels manageable to us. high prices, of course, but not an actual supply shortage. And my guess is that if it does become a supply shortage, you'll see things like what have happened in Europe, that short-haul flights are the ones that get canceled, as opposed to the global long-haul flights. There are more options for a short-haul flight, take a train or take a car, than there are for flying across the Atlantic or flying across the Pacific.

24:10And so I don't know for sure, but we're watching it closely, you know, at least as far out as we can see, we think things are okay. But we know it's an elevated risk, a risk that normally doesn't exist, but it's certainly an elevated risk as the longer this goes on. Scott, I want to ask you again about consolidation within the industry. You heard the president in those comments to us yesterday on Squawk Box talking about, look, I want to see somebody buy Spirit. And there's a fair amount of chatter. And we've talked with people who have said, look, the federal government may take warrants in spirit to bail them out if there's nobody out there who can buy them as they move closer and closer to liquidation.