United Airlines

On April 6, 1926, Varney Air Lines, founded by Walter T. Varney, flew a Swallow aircraft from Pasco, Washington, on an airmail route to Boise, Idaho. Varney Air Lines was one of United’s founding carriers.⁠[1]

In 1934 Varney founded Varney Speed Lines, which later became Continental Airlines. In 1936 United created commercial aviation’s first flight kitchen.⁠[1]

On December 9, 2002, UAL Corporation, United and 26 wholly owned subsidiaries filed Chapter 11 petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The company emerged on February 1, 2006, and its new common stock began trading on NasdaqNasdaqNasdaq is an exchange operator and financial technology company headquartered in New York. It runs The Nasdaq Stock Market and other markets and provides capital markets technology, regulatory technology, and data and index services. Founded in 1971, it combined with OMX AB in 2008, and in March 2026 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved its rules for trading tokenized securities.Open the full entry under the symbol UAUA the next day.⁠[2]

On October 1, 2010, United and Continental completed their merger, forming United Continental Holdings, Inc., which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange that day under the symbol UAL. Jeff Smisek became chief executive and Glenn Tilton non-executive chairman. The Chicago-based company operated about 5,800 daily flights with more than 80,000 employees.⁠[3]

On April 9, 2017, an overbooked United flight at Chicago O’Hare needed seats for crew members. After offers of $400 and then $800 drew no volunteers, the airline picked four passengers at random. Physician David Dao refused to leave and was removed by airport police officers.⁠[4]

On April 27, United announced a confidential settlement with Dao. It raised compensation for voluntarily giving up a seat to as much as $10,000 and limited the use of law enforcement to safety and security issues. Chief executive Oscar Munoz said “our policies got in the way of our values.”⁠[5]

On December 5, 2019, United announced that its president, Scott KirbyScott KirbyScott Kirby is an airline executive who has been chief executive officer of United Airlines since May 2020. He was previously president of US Airways and of American Airlines, and joined United as president in 2016.Open the full entry, would become chief executive the following May, with Oscar Munoz moving to chairman. Kirby had joined United from American Airlines in August 2016 and had since worked with Munoz to fix an airline that had floundered for years after the 2010 merger.⁠[6]

On March 31, 2025, United announced that the FAA had issued a Supplemental Type Certificate for the Starlink-equipped Embraer 175, with the first commercial flight planned for May on United Express and free access for MileagePlus members. It planned to equip its more than 300 two-cabin regional jets by the end of the year.⁠[7]

United Airlines, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Airlines Holdings, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed Delaware holding company based in Chicago, and is a member of Star Alliance.⁠[8]

It has eight hubs: Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, Washington Dulles and Guam. At the end of 2025 it had about 113,200 employees, about 83% of them represented by unions.⁠[8]

On October 20, 2026, the company announced record third-quarter total operating revenue of $17.9 billion, up 17.4% from a year earlier, with net income of $1.029 billion and diluted earnings per share of $3.14.⁠[9]

A $1.8 billion rise in fuel expense weighed on quarterly earnings, and the company forecast fourth-quarter adjusted diluted earnings of $0.50 to $1.50 per share. StarlinkStarlinkStarlink is a satellite broadband service supporting video calls, streaming and communications in remote locations.Open the full entry was installed on more than 640 aircraft, with fleetwide installation planned by the end of 2027.⁠[10]