United Airlines, also known by its legal name, United Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline of the United States. It is a subsidiary of UAL Corporation with corporate offices in Chicago, Illinois at 77 West Wacker Drive, and its operations base in nearby Elk Grove Township. United's largest hub is O'Hare International Airport, where it has 650 daily departures. United also has hubs in Denver International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport. Its largest maintenance facility is at San Francisco International Airport. The airline also maintains focus city operations at Narita International Airport.
As of July 31, 2006, United is the world's second-largest airline by revenue-passenger-miles (behind American Airlines), third-largest by total operating revenues (behind Air France-KLM and American Airlines), and fourth-largest by total passengers transported (behind American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines). United has 56,000 employees and operates 460 aircraft. They are regarded as the 5th-largest airline by the List of largest airlines in terms of fleet size.
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 history.
As of February 16, 2008, United and Continental Airlines are in advanced stages of merger negotiations and expect to announce their decision in the immediate aftermath of a definitive merger agreement between rival Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines. The timing of the events is notable because Northwest's golden shares in Continental (that gives Northwest veto authority against any merger involving Continental) can be redeemed, freeing Continental to pursue a marriage with United.
