United CEO Says He Weighed American Merger; Talks Have Ended (2)

United Airlines Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby confirmed he approached American Airlines Group Inc. and that talks have ended, laying out the virtues of a merger that he said could have strengthened corporate America and won approval from regulators.

Kirby posted a lengthy statement on Monday morning addressing the rationale for a combination, from the economic boost to the jobs that it would have created to what he called “a truly globally competitive airline.” In the end, talks went nowhere because American didn’t go along, he said.

“I always knew that the only way any merger could be ...