United Air Lines, Inc. , trading as United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAUA), is a major airline of the United States. It is a subsidiary of UAL Corporation with corporate offices in Chicago at 77 West Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. United's largest hub is O'Hare International Airport, where it has more than 550 daily departures. United also has hubs in Denver International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport. United's route network spans the globe with route authorities in North America, Europe, Asia, Austraila, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and beginning in May of 2010, United will begin service from Washington D.C. to Accra & Lagos, making it the second US carrier to serve Africa and one of the few airlines in the world serving all 6 continents except Antarctica. A founding member of the Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world, United offers connections to over 1,000 destinations in over 170 countries worldwide. United's largest maintenance hub is the Maintenance Operations Center at San Francisco International Airport. United's parent company UAL Corporation announced that it will move its operational base from Elk Grove Township, Illinois to the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in downtown Chicago in 2010.
As of July 31, 2006, United was the world's third largest airline by revenue-passenger-miles (behind Delta Air Lines and American Airlines), third-largest by total operating revenues (behind Air France-KLM and American Airlines), and fourth-largest by total passengers transported (behind Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines). United has 48,000 employees and operates 360 aircraft.
History
Beginnings
United Airlines traces its claim to be the oldest commercial airline in the United States to the Varney Airlines 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 April 6, 1926, and returned the following day with 200 pounds of mail. April 6 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, the company changed its name to United Aircraft and Transport Corp. (UATC). 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 the UATC 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: a parts supplier (the future United Technologies), an aircraft manufacturer (the Boeing Airplane Company), and the United Air Lines airline group. 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 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, making it the world's largest commercial airline and giving it a route network covering the entire United States.
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.
De-regulation
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. In 1985, United agreed to purchase Pan American World Airways' entire Pacific Division, Boeing 747SPs, and L-1011-500s 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, labor unrest, and the pressures of the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act greatly affected the company, which incurred losses and saw a greatly increased turnover in its senior management through the 1970s and early 1980s.
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.
Strike of 1985
On May 17, 1985, United's pilots went on a 29-day strike claiming the CEO, Richard Ferris, was trying to "break the unions." They used management's proposed "B-scale" pilot pay rates as proof. American Airlines already had a non-merging B-scale for its pilots. Ferris insisted United had to have pilot costs no higher than American's, so he offered United pilots a "word-for-word" contract to match American's, or the same bottom line numbers. The United ALPA-MEC rejected that offer. The only choice left, to achieve parity with American's pilot costs, was to begin
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