United Airlines, the primary subsidiary of the UAL Corporation, is a major airline of the United States headquartered in unincorporated Elk Grove Township, Illinois, near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the airline's largest traffic hub, with 650 daily departures.

As of December 31, 2005, United is the world's second-largest airline in terms of revenue-passenger-kilometers (behind American Airlines), third-largest in terms of total operating revenues (behind Air France-KLM and American Airlines), and fourth-largest airline in terms of total passengers transported (behind American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines). United has roughly 54,000 employees and operates approximately 460 aircraft.

On February 1, 2006, United emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under which it had operated since December 9, 2002, the largest and longest airline bankruptcy case in history.

Destinations

United Airlines operates 3,700+ flights a day to 210+ U.S. domestic and international destinations from hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Routes

United operates an extensive domestic route network concentrated in the Midwestern and Western United States and is prominent in transcontinental, transatlantic, and transpacific service. It is by far the leading carrier to Hawaii and the largest airline to Asia, flying 37,191,711 transpacific RPKs in 2004 or 300 weekly departures; in 2005, United carried 1.9 million passengers to the Hawaiian Islands. It is also one of only two US carriers permitted to fly to London Heathrow Airport under the Bermuda II agreement, and the only US carrier which operates its own aircraft from the mainland US to Australia (Hawaiian Airlines flies from Honolulu to Sydney and Continental Airlines maintains a route from Guam to Cairns). United Airlines is (or will be) the only US carrier to serve Vietnam and Kuwait.

United operates a low-cost leisure airline called Ted. The name is taken from the last three letters of its parent United. Ted serves leisure destinations within the United States, Mexico, and Canada with 240 daily flights utilizing 56 aircraft. Ted was created to compete with other low-cost airlines like Frontier and Southwest Airlines.

United has focused for the last several years on its international presence, notably in the People's Republic of China (with nonstop flights to Beijing and Shanghai from its hubs in Chicago and San Francisco). The airline also hopes to begin flying to Guangzhou from San Francisco in the near future [1]. These routes offer a higher proportion of premium fare passengers while being relatively insulated from the cutthroat competition in the domestic market, especially from low-cost carriers. United has also focused more on Latin America, a region from which it had largely retreated in the last decade, and added new destinations and frequencies to Mexico and the Caribbean and will continue to do so into the next decade.

New Routes

• United added 21 weekly flights between the mainland and Hawaii in June 2006 for a total of 227 weekly flights. United will launch new weekend San Diego-Honolulu and Seattle-Honolulu service, and add three daily flights departing from Los Angeles with service to Lihue, Kona, and Maui to complement its five-times-a-day service from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Honolulu, and four-times-a-day service from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Maui.
• United will inaugurate new daily San Francisco-Toronto and Washington Dulles-Albuquerque service on Airbus A319 aircraft starting September 2006.
• United is planning to inaugurate nonstop Washington Dulles-Kuwait service at the end of October 2006 pending Kuwaiti government approval. It will operate three flights a week, departing Washington on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and departing Kuwait on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays with Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

Fleet

United is one of the last two US major carriers (American Airlines being the other) to operate three-class service, mostly on international and high-revenue domestic routes. Most flights within North America and to Hawaii utilize two-class aircraft, while all Ted aircraft are one-class. United brands its classes as UnitedFirst, UnitedBusiness, and UnitedEconomy. As with most airlines, actual service levels vary with route, flight, and aircraft configuration.

United's mainline fleet features Economy Plus, a forward section in the economy cabin that offers an additional 5 to 6 inches (127 to 152 mm) of space although cabin service is the same. Seats in this section are reserved for passengers on certain high-fare tickets, for Premier members of United's frequent flyer program, and elite-level members of Star Alliance frequent flyer programs. As of August 2005, Economy Plus access was also available to non-elites through an annual subscription fee or a per-flight upgrade fee.

Alliances and partners

United Express

United Express is United's regional airline feeder operation. United Express is the marketing name for several small airlines that operate under contract to fly passengers from small cities in the U.S. and Canada to United hubs. Although the aircraft are painted in United colors, they are separate companies with different crews and management. United Express operates 292 jet and turboprop aircraft to 150 destinations with over 2,000 daily departures. In 2005, United Express flew a combined total of 17 billion revenue RPM's.

Star Alliance

UA is a founding member of the Star Alliance, through which it is a marketing partner of 16 other international carriers. It has special partnerships with Star members Lufthansa (including profit-sharing on certain transatlantic routes), and with US Airways (featuring closely linked frequent flyer programs.)

Separately, United currently codeshares with SNCF French Rail as United Ground Link to stations in France and has marketing agreements of varying intimacy with Aeromar, Air Dolomiti (a subsidiary company of Deutsche Lufthansa AG), Air China, Aloha Airlines, Continental Connection (operated by Gulfstream), Great Lakes Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Shanghai Airlines, and Virgin Blue.

History

Early beginnings

UAL traces its claim to be the oldest commercial airline in the United States to the Varney Airlines air mail service of Walter Varney. 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 of Pasco, Washington on April 6, 1926 and returned the following day with 200 pounds of mail. April 6th is reckoned in the United Airlines company history as both its own birthday and date on which "true" airline transport—operating on fixed routes and fixed schedules—began. 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 soon began buying other airmail carriers, including Varney's. Within four years, Boeing's holdings would grow to include a number of airlines, airplane and parts manufacturing companies, and several airports. In 1929, the company changed its name to United Aircraft - Transport Corp.

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.

Following the Air Mail Scandal of 1930, the Air Mail Act of 1934 banned the common ownership of manufacturers and airlines. United Aircraft-Transport's President Philip G. Johnson was forced to resign and went on to Trans-Canada Airlines, the future Air Canada. William Boeing's company was broken into three: a parts supplier (the future United Technologies), an aircraft manufacturer (the Boeing Airplane Company), and an airline group—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.