United Airlines

a division of UAL Corp.

U.S. international airline. It began as United Aircraft and Transport Corp., which first operated transcontinental passenger flights in 1929. It was the first airline to introduce stewardesses, in 1930. United Airlines, Inc., was established in Chicago in 1931 as a holding company for the corporation's four constituent airlines. United expanded rapidly after World War II and became the largest air carrier in the Western world when it merged with Capital Airlines in 1961. United acquired Pan American World Airways' transpacific routes in 1986 and its Latin American and Caribbean routes in 1991. The parent company took the name UAL Corp. in 1988. When United employees held a controlling share of the airline company (1994–2003), UAL was the largest employee-owned company in the U.S.

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