Continental, United airlines to become largest airline in world

Image from flickr.

Forget taking out Personal Installment Loans to pay for your carry-on luggage or Same Day Loans for a pillow on your next flight. The concern now is: what airline will you be flying on? Will you be flying Continental or United? Both. Yes, Continental and United airlines are combining into the world’s largest airline.

What will the newly combined Continental, United airline be called?

The combined airline will be called United and will be based in United’s hometown of Chicago, but it will be run by Continental CEO Jeffery Smisek. The present United CEO, Glenn Tilton, will become the chairman of the new airline.

What are the airline statistics?

United is the nation’s third-largest carrier by traffic. Continental Airlines Inc., based in Houston, is the country’s fourth largest. Continental is valued at $3.2 billion. The current largest carrier is Delta Air Lines who in 2008, purchased Northwest airlines to make them the largest. After the combination of the Continental and United, there will be three major international airlines in the U.S.: the new United, Delta and American Airlines. UAL, who is the parent company of United, reported a smaller-than-expected $82 million loss for the first quarter of 2010 with a revenue jump of 15 percent, which was the biggest increase among the six largest U.S. carriers. There are signs of a gradual recovery in air travel overall.

What will happen to the staff?

The pilots’ union for the current United says they will defend their pilots. There is no word as to other staff or the flight attendants. I guess we will learn more in the next few days as everything unfolds.

What about stock prices?

The two companies are still settling differences over the price of stocks and how to value each other’s shares for a stock-swap transaction. Two years ago, the same companies came close to merging but decided at the last minute it was too risky to merge at that time of high oil prices and because of big losses in the airline industry.