UAL Corporation

UAL Corporation

Former type	Public
Industry	Transport
Fate	Merged with Continental Airlines in 2010
Successor	United Continental Holdings, Inc.
Founded	Chicago, Illinois, U.S. (1968 (1968))
Defunct	October 1, 2010 (2010-10-01)
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Glenn F. Tilton, Executive Chairman, President and CEO
Revenue	US$16,335 Million (2009)
Net income	US$-651 Million (2009)
Number of employees	47,000 (2009)
Subsidiaries	United Airlines, Inc.
Footnotes / references

UAL Corporation is the former name of United Continental Holdings, an airline holding company, incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. UAL held a 100 percent controlling interest in United Airlines, Inc., one of the world's largest air carriers, and is a founding member of the Star Alliance. It was announced on May 3, 2010 that UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines, Inc. would pursue a merger pending government approval. UAL Corporation would acquire Continental Airlines, Inc. and change its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UCH). On October 1, 2010, UCH, formerly UAL Corporation, announced completion of the merger.

UAL Corp. passed to its successor major operations at Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington-Dulles International Airport. UAL's United Airlines, Inc. controlled several key air rights, including having been one of only two American carriers authorized to serve Asia from Tokyo-Narita. Additionally, UAL's United was the largest U.S. carrier to the People’s Republic of China and maintained a large operation throughout Asia.

UAL, Inc., as the company was first known, was incorporated December 30, 1968 as a Delaware corporation as part of a reorganization of United Airlines, now its largest subsidiary, whose history is considerably longer. UAL, Inc. was the creation of then United Airlines president George Keck, who formed the holding company to allow United to diversify.

Between 1970 and 1988 UAL, Inc. would acquire and operate the Westin and Hilton hotel chains and the Hertz Corporation car rental company, as well as a regional airline, a reservations network, and several leasing and insurance companies. On April 30, 1987, UAL, Inc. changed its name to Allegis Corporation. Many Wall Street analysts however believed that Allegis' profitable subsidiaries were worth more individually than the parent company's stock price indicated. Reacting on this sentiment, just weeks after the company changed its name, a group led by United Airlines employees moved to acquire ownership. However, the group was unable to acquire the needed financing and Allegis' management sold its non-airline subsidiaries. On May 26, 1988, Allegis changed its name to UAL Corporation, with United Airlines, Inc. as its only major subsidiary.