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| Founded | April 6, 1926; 98 years ago (as Varney Air Lines in Boise, Idaho) | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | March 28, 1931; 93 years ago | ||||||
| AOC # | CALA014A | ||||||
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| Frequent-flyer program | MileagePlus | ||||||
| Alliance | Star Alliance | ||||||
| Fleet size | 952 | ||||||
| Destinations | 362 | ||||||
| Parent company | United Airlines Holdings | ||||||
| ISIN | US9100471096 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Willis Tower, Chicago, Illinois, United States | ||||||
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| Founder | Walter Varney | ||||||
| Employees | 103,300 (2023) | ||||||
| Website | united.com | ||||||
United Airlines, Inc. is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. United operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and all six inhabited continents primarily out of its eight hubs, with Chicago–O'Hare having the largest number of daily flights and Denver carrying the most passengers in 2023. Regional service is operated by independent carriers under the brand name United Express.
United was formed by the amalgamation of several airlines in the late 1920s, the oldest of these being Varney Air Lines, created in 1926 by Walter Varney who later co-founded the predecessor to Continental Airlines. In 1997, United became one of the five founding airlines of Star Alliance, of which it remains a member today. Since its merger with Continental in 2010, United consistently ranks as one of the world's largest airlines; it is currently first by the number of destinations served and third in terms of revenue and fleet size.
United Airlines' 1997–2010 logo. The 'U' Tulip, designed by Saul Bass, was the airline's icon from 1973 to 2010
United traces its roots to Varney Air Lines (VAL), which Walter Varney founded in 1926 in Boise, Idaho. Continental Airlines is the successor to Speed Lines, which Varney had founded by 1932 and whose name changed to Varney Speed Lines in 1934. VAL flew the first privately contracted air mail flight in the U.S. on April 6, 1926.
In 1927, William Boeing founded Boeing Air Transport to operate air mail routes under contract with the United States Post Office Department. In 1929, Boeing merged his company with Pratt & Whitney to form the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC) which then set about buying, in the space of just 28 months, Pacific Air Transport, Stout Air Services, VAL, and National Air Transport, as well as numerous equipment manufacturers at the same time. On March 28, 1931, UATC formed United Air Lines, Inc., as a holding company for its airline subsidiaries.
In 1973, United Airlines became the first civil airline to carry an active President of the United States, when then-president Richard Nixon was on board of a regularly scheduled flight from Washington D.C to Los Angeles. The aircraft used, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, therefore received the callsign "Executive One".
In December 2002, due largely to the post-9/11 dropoff in air travel, as well as to poor relations between the corporation and one of its key labor unions, the International Association of Machinists, United Airlines filed for bankruptcy. It remained under court protection for more than three years. This enabled it to cut costs ruthlessly. Finally, in early 2006, it emerged from court protection and resumed normal operations.
In late 2006, Continental Airlines and United began merger discussions, which concluded successfully in 2010. The carriers planned to begin merging their operations in 2011. The merged airline began operating under a single air operator's certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration on November 30, 2011. On March 3, 2012, United and Continental merged their passenger service systems, frequent-flier programs, and websites, which virtually eliminated the Continental brand with the exception of its logo. On June 27, 2019, the parent company's name changed from United Continental Holdings to United Airlines Holdings.
In January 2021, Chief Executive Scott Kirby put forward the possibility for the company to mandate employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine while cautioning the potential difficulties in implementing the mandate. The company was the first major US airline to announce a vaccine mandate for all staff on August 6, at which point over 80% of flight attendants and 90% of pilots had been vaccinated, according to statements of the respective unions. Days before the internal deadline of September 27, the company announced that more than 97% of the US based staff were vaccinated.
In early 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration announced in March 2024 that it would increase safety oversight of United Airlines following a string of safety-related incidents. As a result, the airline was forced to postpone the launch of two announced international routes to Faro, Portugal and Cebu, Philippines.
As of January 2024 United operates flights to 238 domestic destinations and 118 international destinations in 48 countries or regions across all six inhabited continents.
As part of its hub-and-spoke business model, United currently operates eight hubs.
