Communicator spotlight: Josh Earnest of United Airlines

Axios

05-06-2025

As United Airlines' executive vice president of communications and advertising, Josh Earnest is responsible for sharing how the airline differs from its competitors.
Why it matters: Much of the job is spent protecting the brand amid ongoing crises — from COIVD-19 groundings, to the Boeing quality control issues, to the recent air traffic challenges at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of United's hubs.
What he's saying: Travelers have to relinquish control to the airline that's getting them from point A to point B, which "makes the association that fliers have with our brand all the more important," Earnest told Axios.
Flyers pay attention to how the airlines communicate during a crisis "because they see their own personal stake in it," he said.
"When people are sitting on that plane, they are feeling out of control. When you're sitting on an airplane, sometimes you don't even have access to WiFi — although we're doing a lot to try to fix that — and you're arriving whenever we decide to arrive. Hopefully your bags will make it, but we're the ones looking out for them. And you're certainly counting on United to keep you safe."
State of play: United operates nearly 70% of the flights at Newark, which means the airline has a huge stake in the recent flight disruptions caused by air traffic control issues.
"A lot of the challenges at Newark are totally outside of the control of United Airlines. We're talking about air traffic controllers, state and local regulators at the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, federal regulators at the FAA and the Department of Transportation, and the air traffic controllers union," he said.
Yes, but: While things might be outside of United's control, its brand is impacted, and it is "not an option for us to sit on the sidelines," Earnest said.
"That's why we have worked both to engage with government regulators, to try to come up with policy solutions that could solve the problem, but also why we've been really out in front in communicating with the public and with our customers about what is being done to make it more reliable."
Most recently, United slashed ticket prices for Newark-based flights and partnered with JetBlue to allow for more flight options out of nearby Kennedy International Airport.
Catch up quick: Before joining United, Earnest spent more than two decades in politics, most recently serving as White House press secretary for the Obama administration.
Zoom in: Earnest sits on the executive team, reporting to United president Brett Hart.
He oversees a team of about 140 people who are responsible for the airline's global communications, advertising and community engagement strategies.
The team structure "allows us to integrate the creative, paid efforts with our aggressive, proactive earned efforts," he said.
"There's no enterprise that can rely on one channel of communication, and it just means that there's a higher premium placed on a well-integrated communication strategy."
"We will often use notes to our employees to drive news coverage. If you think about it, it used to be the other way. We would worry that notes we're sending to our employees could get out. And what do we do to try to prevent that? ... Now we like the benefit of the public seeing that we're transparently communicating with our employees about what's happening."