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| United Airlines |
United Air Lines, Inc., is a major airline based in the United States and one of the world's largest airlines with 48,000 employees and 359 aircraft. It is a subsidiary of United Continental Holdings, Inc. formerly, UAL Corporation, with corporate offices in Chicago. United's current largest hub is Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. United also has hubs in Washington Dulles International Airport, Denver International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Narita International Airport near Tokyo. United is a founding member of the Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world, and offers connections to over 1,000 destinations in over 170 countries worldwide.
On Sunday, May 2, 2010, the Boards of Directors at Continental Airlines and UAL Corp. approved a stock-swap deal that would combine them into the world's largest airline in revenue passenger miles and second largest in fleet size and destinations after Delta Air Lines. The new airline will take on the United Airlines name, Continental's logo and be based in United's hometown of Chicago. Once combined, United's largest hub will be in Houston. It will also be the largest carrier serving the New York City area via its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport. The combined airline will also operate smaller hubs in Cleveland and Guam. The parent company of the new carrier will be called United Continental Holdings, Inc. The new United will be run by Continental's CEO, Jeffery Smisek, along with United Airline's CEO, Glenn Tilton, serving as non-executive Chairman of the board until his retirement two years hence. United's pilots union announced that they "are fully prepared to protect and defend the interests of all United pilots."
On August 27, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice approved the US$3 billion merger. Share holders of both companies approved the deal on September 17, 2010. The transaction was completed on October 1, 2010.
History
United Airlines traces its claim to be the oldest commercial airline in the United States to the Varney Air Lines air mail service of Walter Varney, who also founded Continental Airlines. It was founded in Boise, Idaho. Varney's chief pilot, Leon D. "Lee" Cuddeback, flew the first Contract Air Mail flight in a Swallow biplane from Varney's headquarters in Boise, Idaho, to the railroad mail hub at Pasco, Washington, on May 17, 1926, and returned the following day with 200 pounds of mail. May 17 is regarded in the United Airlines company history as both its own birthday and the date on which "true" airline service—operating on fixed routes and fixed schedules—began in the United States. Varney Airlines' original 1925 hangar served as a portion of the terminal building for the Boise Airport until 2003, when the structure was replaced.
In 1927, airplane pioneer William Boeing founded his own airline, Boeing Air Transport, and began buying other airmail carriers, including Varney's. Within four years, Boeing's holdings grew to include airlines, airplane and parts manufacturing companies, and several airports. In 1929, Boeing merged his company with Pratt & Whitney to form United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC). In March 1928, Boeing Air Transport, National Air Transport, Varney Airlines and Pacific Air Transport combine as United Air Lines, providing coast-to-coast passenger service and mail service. It took 27 hours to fly the route, one way.
In 1930, as the capacity of airplanes proved sufficient to carry not only mail but also passengers, Boeing Air Transport hired a registered nurse, Ellen Church, to assist passengers. United claims Church as the first airline stewardess. On May 7, 1930, UATC completed the acquisition of National Air Transport Inc, a large carrier based in Chicago. On March 28, 1931, UATC formed the corporation United Air Lines, Inc. to manage its airline subsidiaries.
Following the Air Mail scandal of 1930, the Air Mail Act of 1934 banned the common ownership of manufacturers and airlines. UATC's President Philip G. Johnson was forced to resign and moved to Trans-Canada Airlines, the future Air Canada. William Boeing's company was broken into three separate companies. UATC's manufacturing interests east of the Mississippi River became United Aircraft (the future United Technologies), while its manufacturing interests west of the Mississippi became Boeing Airplane Company. The airline interests became United Air Lines. The airline company's new president, hired to make a fresh start as airmail contracts were re-awarded in 1934, was William A. Patterson, who remained as president of United Airlines until 1963.
Expansion into a national carrier
United's early route system, formed by connecting U.S. air mail routes, operated east-to-west along a transcontinental route from New York City via Chicago and Salt Lake City to San Francisco, as well as north-and-south along the West Coast. The early interconnections during this era became the basis of major United hubs in Chicago and San Francisco, followed later by additional hubs in Denver and Washington, D.C. These four cities remain United's principal hubs to this day.
On the night of October 11, 1933, a United Boeing 247 exploded in mid-air and crashed near Chesterton, Indiana, killing all seven people aboard. Investigation revealed that the explosion was caused by a nitroglycerin bomb placed in the baggage hold. The United Airlines Chesterton Crash is believed to be the first proven case of air sabotage in commercial aviation history. No suspects or motives were ever discovered.
During World War II, United-trained ground crews modified airplanes for use as bombers, and transported mail, material, and passengers in support of the war effort. Post-war United benefited from both the wartime development of new airplane technologies (like the pressurized cabin which permitted planes to fly above the weather) and a boom in customer demand for air travel. This was also the period in which Pan American Airways established a Tokyo hub and revived its Pacific route system that would later be acquired by United.
On November 1, 1955, United Airlines Flight 629, which was flying from Stapleton Airport in Denver to Portland, Oregon, was bombed, killing everyone on board the Douglas DC-6B aircraft. The bomb was planted by Jack Graham who placed the device in his mother's luggage with the intent of collecting on her life insurance policy. Graham was arrested, tried, and was executed a year after the explosion.
United merged with Capital Airlines on June 1, 1961 and displaced American as the world's second largest airline, after Aeroflot. In 1968 the company reorganized, creating UAL Corporation, with United Airlines as a wholly owned subsidiary.
United Airlines has the distinction of being the only commercial airline to have operated Executive One, the designation given to a civilian flight which the U.S. President is aboard. On December 23, 1973, then President Richard Nixon flew as a passenger aboard a United DC-10 flight from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles. White House staff explained that this was done to conserve fuel by not having to fly the usual Boeing 707 Air Force aircraft. In keeping with the common practice of having two aircraft immediately available at all times during Presidential travel, an Air Force aircraft flew behind in case of an emergency.
United had begun to seek overseas routes in the 1960s, but the Transpacific Route Case (1969) denied them this expansion. It did not gain an overseas route until 1983, when they began flights to Tokyo from Portland and Seattle. United became a leading proponent of deregulation due to its perception that regulation, as it existed at the time, was a major constraint on United's ability to profitably grow. After years of focused work to bring about deregulation, the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act became law.
In 1985, United agreed to purchase Pan American World Airways' entire Pacific Division, Boeing 747SPs, and L-1011-500s, and flight crew staffs for $750 million. By the end of 1986, United operated flights to 13 Pacific destinations, most of which were purchased from the ailing Pan American World Airways.
Economic turmoil brought about largely by the economic climate of the 70's which lead to "stagflation", labor unrest, and the pressures of the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act greatly the industry and United, which incurred losses at a time when it was also undergoing significant changes at the top of both United Airlines and its parent company UAL Corp. Some changes due largely to the retirement of long term senior management members as well as performance driven changes at the very top in 1969 and again in 1985 following the pilot strike.
In May 1981, one week after rival American Airlines launched AAdvantage, the first modern frequent flyer program, United launched its Mileage Plus. In 1982, United became the launch carrier for the Boeing 767, taking its first delivery of 767-200s on August 19.
In 1984, United became the first airline to serve all 50 states when it introduced service to Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Fargo, Casper, Jackson, and Charleston.
Cabin
United offers in-flight entertainment on all mainline aircraft, the only mainline legacy carrier to do so. Audio programming is provided by Zune. The entire fleet features "From the Flightdeck" on channel 9. This program allows passengers to listen to live radio communications between the cockpit and Air Traffic Control. "From the Flightdeck" can be disabled at the pilot's discretion. United also has partnerships with various television networks who provide programming for video-equipped aircraft. The most prominent of these programming partners was NBC, which provided branded "NBC on United" programming. This long-standing partnership ended in early 2009, when NBC signed a two-year deal with American Airlines. Despite the loss of this partnership, United's television entertainment continues to include several prime time NBC programs.