On April 6, 1926, Walter T. Varney launched a contract air mail service between Pasco, Washington and Elko, Nevada. United Airlines claims, that this day marks both the birth of United Airlines in special and commercial air transportation in the USA in general.
Also in 1926, National Air Transport (NAT, flying between Dallas and Chicago) and Pacific Air Transport (PAT, flying between Los Angeles and Seattle) began operating. In 1927, Boeing Air Transport (BAT, flying between Chicago and San Francisco) commenced service, establishing the first transcontinental passenger air service in cooperation with NAT.
On October 30, 1928, Boeing Airplane - Transport Corp. (BATC) was incorporated in Delaware. They acquired BAT, PAT and the Boeing Airplane Co. as subsidiaries. The company name was soon changed to United Aircraft and Transport Corp. (UATC). Further companies were bought and the flight routes extended.
In 1930, UATC purchased NAT and Varney Air Lines. In the same year, BAT hired Ellen Church, a registered nurse, to assist passengers during the flight. She is supposed to be the first airline stewardess.
On March 28, 1931, United Air Lines, Inc. (UAL) is incorporated to coordinate the operations of UATC’s airline subsidiaries.
Following the “Air Mail Scandal” of 1930, in 1934 the Air Mail Act came into effect. It banned the common ownership of airlines and aircraft manufacturers and forced Boeing to split the UATC into three parts: United Technologies (a parts supplier), Boeing Airplane Company (aircraft manufacturer) and United Airlines, which now could make their decisions independently.
During WWII, United trained ground crew members for the US Army and Navy air forces, modified bombers and flew more than 50 million miles to support the US forces.
During the 1950s, many new aircraft types like the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, the Convair 340 and the Douglas DC-7 joined the United fleet.
On November 1, 1955, United flight 629 flying from Denver to Portland was bombed, killing all people on board. The man who had planted the bomb was executed one year later.
In 1961, the company merged with Capital Airlines, creating the world’s largest commercial airline of that time and giving United a route network covering the whole United States.
In 1969, United was reorganized. The airline became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the newly formed UAL Corporation.
On April 1, 1983, United established its first transpacific route, Seattle – Tokyo, after more than 20 years of unsuccessful efforts. Their transpacific network was extended to 13 destinations in 1986, when the Pan Am pacific routes were bought. Today United is one of the world’s largest transpacific carriers.
From May 17, 1985, United employees staged a six-week strike that cost the airline about one billion dollars.
In the early 90s, United extended their route network. On May 15, 1990, Frankfurt became the first transatlantic destination, many more followed in the years to come. South America was also integrated into the network, for example Caracas, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires were added in 1992.
Despite these expansions, the economical situation worsened. Being injured already because of the huge strike costs in 1985, the Gulf War, high fuel costs and new low-cost carriers led to a company record loss of 957 million dollars in 1992.
As a means to rescue United, 55% of the stock was given to United employees in 1994, in return for salary concessions. This created the largest employee-owned corporation in the world. In the same year, Shuttle by United was formed, United’s own low-cost carrier.
In 1997, United Airlines was a founding member of Star Alliance, the first and biggest airline alliance in the world. This event was followed by a few strong economic years, bringing the company record profits.
In 2000, another struggle between United and its pilots created high costs. Flights had to be cancelled and many frequent flyers left the airline.
On September 11, 2001, two United airplanes were hijacked. One of them crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center, the other crashed in rural Pennsylvania. It was probably meant to hit either the White House or the Capitol.
In the wake of these events, United had to file for chapter 11 protection against bankruptcy in late 2002. In the following time, many cost-reducing measures were put through in order to regain financial strength.
In 2003, Ted was founded, a new low-cost carrier that was to compete with other low-cost airlines. In the same year, the SARS crisis and soaring fuel prices gave United even more losses.
On February 1, 2006, United finally emerged from bankruptcy.
In December 2006, it was revealed that United was having talks with Continental Airlines about a possible merger.
In 2007, the United Air Lines fleet consisted of around 460 aircraft, half of them leased, with an average age of 10.7 years.
United’s main hub is Chicago O’Hare with 650 departures every day. In total the airline serves more than 200 destinations in 30 countries.
[Show Summary]
