John Scott Kirby[1] (born August 13, 1967) is an American executive and the CEO of United Airlines.

[2] He received his bachelor's degree in computer science and operations research from the United States Air Force Academy, where he trained to be an aircraft pilot, in 1989.

[2][3] Early in his career, Kirby worked at the Pentagon as a budget analyst for the United States Secretary of Defense for three years.

He later worked for Sabre Decision Technologies (SDT), a subsidiary of AMR Corporation within the tourism and transport industries.

Kirby has been credited with expanding the airline's flight network,[13] and restructuring hubs in Chicago, Denver, and Houston.