[35] Coupled with a battered network, the post-9/11 decline in air travel and skyrocketing oil prices, the company lost $2.14billion in 2001 on revenues of $16.14 billion. Oscar Munoz has served as a Director since January 2022 and was previously a member of our Global Advisory Board from December 2020 to December 2021. The conglomerate successfully integrated into the aviation industry from manufacturing to delivery of mail and cargo, to transportation services for civilians and the military. the federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board established in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In 1997, United co-founded the Star Alliance with Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, and Thai Airways. [73] Both carriers planned to United Airlines was the creation of aviation pioneer William Boeing, who started out in the airplane business in 1916. A new peak travel season? Airline execs expect 'new normal' [76], On March 31, 2013, United and Continental merged into a single airline. [34] The marketing partnership ended in divorce in 2003, but paved the way for a future alliance with US Airways. Another top figure in the industry . Jeff Potter was the CEO of Frontier Airlines for five years, maneuvering the airline through both the post-economic recession and a groundswell of explosive expansion to 6,500 employees. [74] The merged airline would use Continental's single operating certificate (SOC) (using the "United" name), while those of United and Air Micronesia would be surrendered. Pentagram designed a new "UNITED" font that appeared in advertisements, signage and printed material, but did not appear on the aircraft themselves until United's next livery re-design. [3], In 2015, five years after the merger of Continental and United, staff remained on separate labor contracts and were only allowed to fly on the routes and planes for the company where they were employed before the merger, causing contentions between management and labor. She would not blame others, she would not try to spin, she would just say, Listen, I let those policies and procedures get in the way of doing the right thing for another human being.. Furthermore, they reduced their mainline fleet from 557 (before 9/11) to 460 aircraft. I first met Oscar Munoz when he spoke at our TIME100 Summit in 2019 about the turnaround he was leading at United Airlines. From 1953 to 1970, United operated six-day-a-week afternoon non-stop extra fare "men only" flights between New York and Chicago ("The Chicago Executive" 642643) and Los Angeles and San Francisco (665666) on which women and children were banned. [40], On February 1, 2006, United emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under which it had operated since December 9, 2002, the largest and longest airline bankruptcy case in the history of the industry. In The Beginning United Airlines began under the name of Varney Airlines in 1926. The scheduled flight from San Francisco via Hong Kong (SFOHKGSGN) was the first by a U.S. airline since the end of the Vietnam War, when Pan Am halted service shortly before the fall of Saigon in 1975. [2] On August 29, 2016, Munoz hired Scott Kirby, then-president of American Airlines, to fill the same role at United. After a little bit of prompting, she broke down in tears and angrily said, Oscar, Im just tired of always having to say Im sorry. Im sorry were late. Im sorry we have sh-tty coffee. It was a point where people would almost rather say they were unemployed than work at United.