United united – looms closer

United Continental Holdings Inc, the owner of United Airlines and Continental Airlines, has edged a little closer with its confirmed scheme to operate as just one airline.  The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved a single operating certificate for the two carriers.  All technical communications can now refer to all United and Continental flights as “United.”  

This regulatory milestone, whilst significant from an operational policies and procedures perspective, sits in the background as far as passengers are concerned.   Customers of United and Continental can continue to shop for flights, obtain seat assignments and check flight status on each carrier’s respective website until the company migrates to a single passenger service system in the first quarter of 2012.  At that point, the two carriers will function effectively as one airline.

“I would like to thank the teams at United, Continental, the FAA, the Department of Transportation and the many regulatory authorities around the globe who put tremendous time and effort into our achieving a single operating certificate,” said United’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Smisek. “While we have much work ahead of us as we integrate these two great carriers, this is a significant milestone.” www.united.com

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