Of all the airlines in the world, the largest is United Airlines in terms of employees. With over 86,000 of them, its not hard to see how United holds this record! Furthermore, due to the airline’s ownership of seven hundred and three separate aircraft, it is also officially the second-largest in the world in terms of fleet size.

Since it is a subsidiary company of United Continental Holdings Inc., the airline is headquartered in Chicago with the rest of the corporation. The airline also has a main hub in Chicago at the O’Hare International Airport, along with hubs across America in the following locations; Denver International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, San Fransisco International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, and the largest of its hubs at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Huston. Furthermore, United Airlines also has hubs abroad at the Narita International Airport just outside of Tokyo in Japan, and the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam.

Not only is United a member of the world-renowned Star Alliance (the world’s largest airline alliance), it is the founding member of the entire group. Because of these strong business ties and connections, United is able to offer flights to more than one hundred and seventy countries across the globe and flights to over one thousand destinations.

Since the 30th of November in 2011, United completed its merger period with the smaller firm; Continental Airlines. This transitional period was finalised by the issuing of United with one operating certificate for both airlines. As of this date, Continental and United are now officially one airline and Continental is now technically non-existent. Despite this, administrative issues are still being handled by both companies in a tactful and conscientious manner, therefore some parts of the merge will not be completed until early 2012. For example, frequent-flier programs, as well as check-in procedures are still handled by the two companies separately, but this state of affairs is not expected to exist for much longer.

The airline is notable for its wide range of services across all flights. For example, first-class services are available on every aircraft, as well as economy class tickets. Business class on the other hand, is available on all international and long-haul flights, but is not widely available on domestic flights. Whilst United Airlines is counted amongst the world’s largest airlines, it is generally considered to have excellent customer care policies and services which is possibly a major reason for the continued growth of the company.