United Air Lines (English)

 United Air Lines began flying in 1927 under the name Boeing Air Transport. It was founded by William Boeing.

Early History of United

 

 United Airlines traces its roots back to Varney Air Lines and Varney Speed ​​Lines whose founder was Walter Varney. Varney Air Lines, cargo airline based in Boise, Idaho, flew the first airmail contract in the U.S on April 5, 1926. In 1927, William Boeing, who was the pioneer of aviation, started his own airline under the name Boeing Air Transport. William Boeing bought Varney Air Lines and other airlines too. In 1929, Boeing merged his company with Pratt & Whitney to form United Aircraft and Transport Corporation. In 1933, United began flying the Boeing 247. The Boeing 247 gave United the ability to fly non-stop routes throughout the United States. In 1934, United Aircraft and Transport Corporation split into three companies, United Aircraft, the Boeing Airplane Company and United Air Lines. During World War II, United-trained crews modified airplanes for use as bombers, carrying mail, material, and passengers in support of the war effort. In 1954, United Airlines became the first airline to acquire modern flight simulators that had visual signals, sound and movement for pilot training. This was purchased from Curtiss-Wright.

 

History of United during the Jet Age

 

 United merged with Capital Airlines on June 1, 1961 and displaced American Airlines as the second largest airline in the world, after Aeroflot. In 1968, the airline reorganized and created UAL Corporation as the parent company of United Airlines. During the 1970s United suffered economic turmoil and labor unrest. In 1974, United unveiled a logo for its planes with a large tulip on the tail with three lines of red and blue and black letters on the fuselage. In 1978, came the airline deregulation and shocks resulted in the industry and losses deepened the financial difficulties of the airline. In 1982, United became the first airline to operate the Boeing 767. In May 1985, the airline suffered a pilot strike for 29 days over proposals for managing the pilot salary scale. In 1985, United purchased the entire Pacific Division of Pan Am. This gave United a new headquarters at Narita Airport in Tokyo and also as part of the purchase received Boeing 747SPs and Lockheed Martin L1011s from Pan Am. In February 1987, Richard Ferris, the then general manager, changed the name of the parent company of United to Allegis. In May 1988, the parent company reverted to the name UAL Corporation after the termination of Richard Ferris and got rid of non-aeronautical property. In 1990, United purchased Pan Am's operations at Heathrow Airport in London. In 1992, United purchased the Pan Am's Latin American routes and base in Miami. In 1993, United introduced a new look for its aircraft with the upper fuselage painted grey, lower fuselage dark, dark colored stripes on the tail with the tulip small in the middle of the tail and the United letters white. In 1994, Steven Wolf, then CEO sold United to the employees. That same year, United began a low-fare airline under the name Shuttle by United. In 1995, United became the first airline to operate the Boeing 777. In 1997, United co-founded the airline alliance group Star Alliance. 

 

United in the new Millennium

 

 In May 2000, United announced a planned acquisition of U.S. Airways but in July 2001 was forced to withdraw the offer when the Federal Department of Justice barred the merger on grounds of competition. In May 2000, United also suffered a bitter contract dispute with the pilots union over pay cuts and concessions to finance the ESOP and overtime, causing flight cancellations that summer until a wage increase was agreed on. 2001 was a very bad year for United. On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks took plane on the United States and that day two United planes were used to carry out  the attacks. One of these was a Boeing 767 that was crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York and the other was a Boeing 757 that crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania after passengers had defeated the terrorists aboard the plane to stop a planned attack. This resulted in a crisis for the airline industry and with economic difficulties, high oil prices and higher labor costs, the airline lost $ 2.14 billion in 2001. In the same year United applied for a loan guarantee of $ 1.5 million from the Board of Federal Air Transportation Stabilization that was established following the attacks of September 11 and closed United Shuttle, its low-fare airline. In December 2002, UAL Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after several failed attempts to raise additional capital and the ESOP was terminated. United laid off many workers, closed all U.S. tickets offices, canceled several existing and planned routes, reduced its operations in Miami, closed maintenance bases and reduced the number of aircraft in the fleet following the reorganization. The airline also negotiated cost reductions with employees, suppliers and contractors, and terminated the contracts with connector airlines Atlantic Coast Airlines and Air Wisconsin flying for United Express, its regional subsidiary. In 2003, United began a low-fare airline under the name Ted. In 2004, its Boeing 757 aircraft were reconfigured with a first class service for routes flying coast to coast and introduced a new look for its aircraft with the tulip covering the whole tail and white upper fuselage, a lighter blue on the lower fuselage and black United titles. In the same year United dismantled  its base in Miami due to retrenchment and competition with American Airlines. In 2005, United canceled its pension plan, the biggest in corporate history of the United States  and announced it had raised $ 3 billion in financing to emerge from bankruptcy and filed its Reorganization Plan on September 7, 2005. In 2008, United closed Ted, its low-fare airline. On October 1, 2010, United merged with Continental Airlines and displaced Delta Air Lines as the world's largest airline. United retained the Continental colors for its aircraft. The name of their parent company UAL Corporation was changed to United Continental Holdings. 

 

United Today

 

 Today United is the world's largest airline. It is headquartered in Chicago and has major bases at the airports Chicago O'Hare, Newark Liberty, Cleveland Hopkins, Washington Dulles, Houston George Bush, Denver, Los Angeles, San Fransico, Tokyo Narita and Guam Antonio B. Won Pat. United flies to all five inhabited continents. It has a fleet of 705 aircraft of various types made up of Boeing and Airbus. Its regional subsidiary is United Express  which flies Bombardier and Embraer jets. Jeffrey A. Smisek is the CEO. This year United will be the first airline in North America to fly the Boeing 787. United has an order for 100 Boeing 737-9 Max to replace its fleet of Boeing 757s and also has an order for 25 Airbus A350-900 XWBs.