About United Airlines Holdings

United Airlines Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary United Airlines, Inc. (United), provides air transportation services. United has the most comprehensive route network among North American carriers, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The company transports people and cargo throughout North America and to destinations in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. UAL, through United and its regional carriers, operates across six continents, with hubs at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Denver International Airport (DEN), George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), A.B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). All of the company's domestic hubs are located in large business and population centers, contributing to a large amount of origin and destination traffic. United Next: The company’s United Next plan is its fundamental strategic evolution for driving future growth that will have a transformational effect on the customer experience and earnings power of its business. In December 2022, the company announced the largest widebody order by a U.S. carrier in commercial aviation history (100 Boeing 787 Dreamliners with options to purchase 100 more), the exercise of options to purchase 44 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for delivery between 2024 and 2026, the firm orders of 56 more Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for delivery between 2027 and 2028 and the acquisition of an additional 100 options to purchase additional Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The company expects to take delivery of about 700 new narrow and widebody aircraft by the end of 2033. The company’s groundbreaking United Next strategy is expected to increase United's average gauge in North America, to increase the total number of available seats per departure and to significantly lower carbon emissions per seat. United will retrofit 100% of its mainline, narrow-body planes with its signature interior that includes seat-back entertainment in every seat, larger overhead bins for every passenger's carry-on bag and the industry's fastest available in-flight WiFi, as well as a bright look-and-feel with LED lighting. The carrier's international widebodies will feature the United Polaris business class seat as well as United Premium Plus seating. The company plans to replace older, smaller mainline jets and at least 200 single-class regional jets with larger aircraft, which the company expects will lead to fuel efficiency benefits compared to older planes, including an expected 17-25% lower carbon emissions per seat compared to older planes. Regional: The company's business and operations are dependent on its regional flight network, with regional capacity accounting for approximately 8% of the company's total capacity for the year ended December 31, 2022. The company has contractual relationships with various regional carriers to provide regional aircraft service branded as United Express. This regional service complements its operations by carrying traffic that connects to the company’s hubs and allows flights to smaller cities that cannot be provided economically with mainline aircraft. CommuteAir LLC (CommuteAir), Republic Airways Inc. (Republic), GoJet Airlines LLC (GoJet), Mesa Airlines, Inc. (Mesa), SkyWest Airlines, Inc. (SkyWest) and Air Wisconsin Airlines LLC (Air Wisconsin) are all regional carriers that operate with capacity contracted to United under capacity purchase agreements (CPAs). The company plans to wind down its CPA with Air Wisconsin in 2023 as part of its United Next plan to reduce service on single-cabin 50-seat regional jets. Under these CPAs, the company pays the regional carriers contractually agreed fees (carrier costs) for operating these flights plus a variable rate adjustment based on agreed performance metrics, subject to annual adjustments. The fees are based on specific rates multiplied by specific operating statistics (e.g., block hours, departures), as well as fixed monthly amounts. Under these CPAs, the company is also responsible for all fuel costs incurred, as well as landing fees and other costs, which are either passed through by the regional carrier to the company without any markup or directly incurred by the company. In some cases, the company owns some or all of the aircraft subject to the CPA and leases such aircraft to the regional carrier. In return, the regional carriers operate the capacity of the aircraft included within the scope of such CPA exclusively for United, on schedules determined by the company. The company also determines pricing and revenue management, assumes the inventory and distribution risk for the available seats and permits mileage accrual and redemption for regional flights through its MileagePlus loyalty program. Alliances: United is a member of Star Alliance, a global integrated airline network and the largest and most comprehensive airline alliance in the world. In 2022, Star Alliance carriers continued to serve more than 1,200 airports in 184 countries with approximately 14,000 average daily departures. Star Alliance members, in addition to United, are Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Aerovías del Continente Americano S.A. (Avianca), Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, THAI Airways International and Turkish Airlines. In addition to its members, Star Alliance includes Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines and Thailand-based Thai Smile Airways, a subsidiary of THAI Airways International, as connecting partners and Germany-based Deutsche Bahn, a rail company, as an intermodal partner. United has a variety of bilateral commercial alliance agreements and obligations with Star Alliance members, addressing, among other things, reciprocal earning and redemption of frequent flyer miles, access to airport lounges and, with certain Star Alliance members, codesharing of flight operations (whereby one carrier's selected flights can be marketed under the brand name of another carrier). In addition to the alliance agreements with Star Alliance members, United currently maintains independent marketing alliance agreements with other air carriers, including Aeromar, Aer Lingus, Air Dolomiti, Airlink Proprietary Limited, Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras S.A. (Azul), Boutique Air, Cape Air, Edelweiss, Emirates, Eurowings, Eurowings Discover, flydubai (in process of completion), Hawaiian Airlines, JetSuiteX, Inc. (JSX), Olympic Air, Silver Airways, Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd and Vistara. United also participates in four passenger joint business arrangements (JBAs): one with Air Canada and the Lufthansa Group (which includes Lufthansa and its affiliates Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Edelweiss, Eurowings, Eurowings Discover and SWISS) covering transatlantic routes, one with ANA covering certain transpacific routes, one with Air New Zealand covering certain routes between the United States and New Zealand, and one with Air Canada, established in July 2022, covering certain United States and Canada transborder routes. These passenger JBAs enable the participating carriers to integrate the services they provide in the respective regions, capturing revenue synergies and delivering enhanced customer benefits, such as highly competitive flight schedules, fares and services. Separate from the passenger JBAs, United also participates in cargo JBAs with ANA for transpacific cargo services and with Lufthansa for transatlantic cargo services. These cargo JBAs offer expanded and more seamless access to cargo space across the carriers' respective combined networks. United and Emirates entered into a commercial agreement (and United and flydubai are in the process of completing a commercial agreement) to enable passengers to book travel on a single ticket making check-in and luggage transfer faster and easier. United will launch a new direct flight between Newark/New York and Dubai starting in March 2023—from there, customers can travel on Emirates or its sister airline flydubai to more than 100 different cities. This agreement will also give the loyalty program members of both airlines more opportunities for more rewards: United MileagePlus members flying on United's Newark/New York to Dubai flight can soon earn and redeem miles when connecting beyond on Emirates and flydubai and Emirates Skywards members will be able to earn miles when they travel on United operated flights. Eligible United customers will also soon have access to Emirates lounges when connecting to and from United's new Dubai flight. Loyalty Program: United's MileagePlus loyalty program builds customer loyalty by offering awards, benefits and services to program participants. Members in this program earn miles for flights on United, United Express, Star Alliance members and certain other airlines that participate in the program. Members can also earn miles by purchasing goods and services from the company’s network of non-airline partners, such as domestic and international credit card issuers, retail merchants, hotels and car rental companies. Members can redeem miles for free (other than taxes and government-imposed fees), discounted or upgraded travel and non-travel awards. United has an agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Chase), pursuant to which members of United's MileagePlus loyalty program who are residents of the United States can earn miles for making purchases using a MileagePlus credit card issued by Chase (the Co-Brand Agreement). The Co-Brand Agreement also provides for joint marketing and other support for the MileagePlus credit card and provides Chase with other benefits such as permission to market to the company's customer database. In 2022, approximately 5.6 million MileagePlus flight awards were used on United and United Express. These awards represented approximately 7.3% of United's total revenue passenger miles. Total miles redeemed for flights on United and United Express, including class-of-service upgrades, represented approximately 92% of the total miles redeemed. In addition, excluding miles redeemed for flights on United and United Express, MileagePlus members redeemed miles for approximately 1.2 million other awards. These awards include United Club memberships, car and hotel awards, merchandise and flights on other air carriers. Air Cargo: United provides freight and mail transportation services (air cargo). The majority of air cargo services are provided to commercial businesses, freight forwarder and logistics firms, as well as national postal services. Through its global network, the company’s cargo operations are able to connect the world's major freight gateways. The company generates cargo revenues in domestic and international markets through the use of cargo space on regularly scheduled passenger aircraft, and starting in 2020, the use of the company’s passenger aircraft for cargo-only flights. The use of cargo-only flights significantly decreased in 2022 due to the return of passenger demand. Distribution Channels: The company's airline seat inventory and fares are distributed through the company's direct channels, traditional travel agencies and online travel agencies (OTA). The use of the company's direct sales website, www.united.com, the company's mobile applications and alternative distribution systems provides the company with an opportunity to de-commoditize its services, better present its content, make more targeted offerings, better retain its customers, enhance its brand and lower its ticket distribution costs. Agency sales are primarily sold using global distribution systems (GDS). United has developed and expects to continue to develop capabilities to sell certain ancillary products through the GDS channel to provide an enhanced buying experience for customers who purchase in that channel. Third-Party Business. United generates third-party business revenue that includes maintenance services, frequent flyer award non-travel redemptions, flight academy and ground handling. Third-party business revenue is recorded in Other operatingrevenue. Expenses associated with third-party business, except non-travel redemptions, are recorded in Other operating expenses. Non-travel redemptions expenses are recorded to Other operating revenue. Aircraft Fuel: The company routinely enters into purchase contracts based on expected fuel requirements for UAL aircraft (including regional partners operating under CPAs) that are generally indexed to various market price benchmarks for aircraft fuel. The company's strategy is to not enter into financial transactions to hedge the market price exposure of its expected fuel consumption, although the company regularly reviews its strategy based on market conditions and other factors. Regulation The company is also subject to investigation inquiries by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and other U.S. and international regulatory bodies. History The company was incorporated in 1968. It was formerly known as United Continental Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to United Airlines Holdings, Inc. in 2019.