United Airlines (UAL) — United Airlines' $80B Plane Bet With No Passengers in Sight

Deep value research on United Airlines (UAL) as of 2026-11-05: $80B list-price plane order. With revenue near zero in 2020, Scott Kirby placed the largest aircraft order in aviation history. We run that bet through a Graham-Buffett lens to test whether a century-old capital destroyer can finally compound.

Chapters

(0:00) Confidential Blueprint

(1:20) Asymmetric COVID Bet

(4:09) 30-Year Horizon

(5:14) Tech Stack Advantage

(10:21) Route Discipline

(11:20) Hub Engine Economics

(13:27) Credit Card Illusion

(15:50) Fleet and Financials

(16:51) Collapse of LCCs

(17:32) ATC Bottlenecks

(18:52) 30-Year Horizon

(20:39) DeepValues App

(21:22) 30-Year Horizon

(22:31) Get the free apps

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Deep Value Intelligence audits the numbers behind the headlines with a Graham-Dodd / Buffett lens: valuation discipline, cash generation, balance-sheet safety and return on capital. Don't guess. Calculate.

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