NEWARK, New Jersey, Sept 16 (Reuters) - United Airlines

CEO Scott Kirby said on Tuesday his company is not going

to make a bid for bankrupt Spirit Airlines' assets if they

become available.

Spirit filed for bankruptcy protection last month for the second

time in a year after a previous reorganization failed to put it

on firmer financial footing. The discount carrier's

restructuring will involve shrinking its network and fleet,

which is expected to put a variety of its assets up for grabs

for competitors.

Kirby, however, told Reuters that Spirit's airplanes, slots

and routes "just don't work" for the Chicago-based airline. He

said it would take two to three years and cost $15 million per

airplane to reconfigure the budget airline's fleet, making it

"impractical" for United.

Similarly, there are not enough gates for United in Spirit's

key markets like Fort Lauderdale in Florida, he added.

"It's not in our wheelhouse," Kirby said in an interview.

"And so we're not going to try to do that."

(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in Newark, Writing by Rajesh

Kumar Singh; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )