One Major Merger Underway – United Airlines & Continental Airlines

It has been almost six months since the shareholders of United and Continental gave a very large ‘thumbs up’ to the merger of the two airlines and little more than four months since it became official.  Despite this, the two airlines will continue to operate separately until a single operating certificate is issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.  That is expected to happen sometime in October 2011.

In the meantime, some visible changes are in progress.  The first aircraft to wear the new airline’s markings appeared in October 2010.  Outwardly less obvious will be the rationalization of route/aircraft combinations but I’m sure the passenger will be tipped off by both boarding pass and aircraft interior.  Among the changes, Continental Boeing 757s previously used on the Houston, TX-Lima, Peru run have already been replaced by United Boeing 767s and several trans-Atlantic routes will be revamped through the summer of 2011 and into early autumn.  United 767s and 777s will take over from Continental 757s on flights between Newark, New Jersey and the Swiss cities of Geneva and Zurich.

The combined fleet, excluding those aircraft operated by United and Continental regional partners, totals more than 700 aircraft.  Continental Airlines operates an all-Boeing fleet of 737s, 757s, 767s and 777s while United Airlines flies mostly Boeing products – 747s, 757s, 767s and 777s – but also has a sizeable quantity of Airbus A319s and A320s in service.  Both airlines ordered Boeing 787s – 25 each – before the merger while United alone is a customer for 25 of the yet-to-fly Airbus A350.

(above)  The last rays of sunshine are cast on this former Continental Airlines Boeing 757 at Orlando International Airport, Florida in February 2011.  N17122, seen waiting for departure over the wing of a Southwest Airlines 737 that has just been cleared to the active runway, is a -224 and wears the new United Airlines markings – Continental’s last paint scheme with ‘UNITED’ titles.  Unlike the ‘old’ United’s 757s, Continental’s aircraft are able to fly US-Europe routes and will replace United 767s and 777s on runs between Washington, DC and Paris, France and between Washington, DC and Amsterdam, the Netherlands.