United and Continental Said to Agree to Merge

NY Times ^ | May 2, 2010 | MICHAEL J. de la MERCED and JAD MOUAWAD

[BigSkyFreeper]

United Airlines and Continental Airlines agreed Sunday to a $3 billion merger that will create the world’s biggest airline, people familiar with the discussions said.

The boards of both companies approved the all-stock transaction, these people said. A deal is expected to be announced on Monday. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

The combined company will keep the United name and will be based in Chicago. It will be run by Continental’s top executive, Jeffery A. Smisek. United’s chairman, Glenn F. Tilton, will be nonexecutive chairman for two years. After that, Mr. Smisek will become the executive chairman.

[Glenn]

Excellent strategic move. Too big to fail now.

[Ken522]

What willl the new airline be called? Unitental, or Continited? ;-D

[2ndDivisionVet]

Bad news for Airbus, since Continental only uses Boeing.

[Non-Sequitur]

For 30 to 50 percent of the Continental work force, I wonder what they plan on doing once their airline careers are over.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Too big to fail, less competition and higher fares.

[Non-Sequitur]

Bad news for Airbus, since Continental only uses Boeing.

They'll have over 150 Airbus in their inventory, with another 75 on order or on options.

[Astronaut]

What a shame. Continental was a great airline, and United sucks. Continental will cease to be and we’ll just be left with a really big, craptacular United Air Lines. Bad news for the consumer. Just when I thought commercial air travel couldn’t possibly get any worse...

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

The new airline will still have the name “United.”

The Continental name will disappear.

[Yardstick]

How about Uncontinental?

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

You Know The Drill
Click the Pic

Hey! FReepers!
Help Fill The Tank!
How About It? Huh?
It Ain't Askin' Too Much
Ya Know....

[SkyDancer]

Picture of the airlines merging ...

[keepitreal]

CAL’s good management team to run company, but how do you change the attitudes of the UAL employees who hate everyone? Such a shame.

[GreenHornet]

What willl the new airline be called? Unitental, or Continited? ;-D

Incontinent Airlines

[cleveland gop]

And so goes Continential’s Cleveland hub....

Obama’s fault......

[Cicero]

The combined company will keep the United name and will be based in Chicago.

Is this just a coincidence? I wonder.

If the Cap and Trade bill passes, the resulting carbon credits will be traded--in Chicago.

If the government economic "regulation" bill passes, it will shift a huge amount of trading in derivatives from New York--to Chicago.

Looks to me like yet another Chicago way power grab. This merger doesn't pass the anti-trust smell test. But it goes through under the Dems. Similarly, the Dems who constantly screamed about "big oil" permitted the merger of Exxon and Mobil, by bill clinton. Teddy Roosevelt would have rolled over in his grave.

The last thing we need is more megacorporations, and less competition. Airline fares will predicatably go up as a result of this.

[wolf78]

They'll have over 150 Airbus in their inventory, with another 75 on order or on options.

Management will be mostly from Continental, so there might be a pro-Boeing bias. However, if the continuous delays of the A380 and the 787 (aka 7-late-7) have proven anything, it's that at the present day and age it makes sense not to rely on a single supplier. That's also why Lufthansa went for the 747-8i when they could've bought just more A380s, while BA for the first time ordered Airbus A380s instead of 747s.

A fleet consisting of 787s and A350s is actually quite a good fit, as the larger A350 variants compete with the older, less efficient 777 rather than the smaller 787. So IMHO prematurely cancelling the A350 orders wouldn't be such a smart move.

[Brad’s Gramma]

LOL!!!

[Pulpo]

A350 is going to be a great plane, can’t wait to see it.

[peggybac]

My thoughts exactly when American bought out TWA.