Founded initially as a mail service carrier airline under the name of Varney Air Lines in 1926, United Airlines has since grown to become one of the
. Between February 2022 and January 2023, United had the fourth-highest
among U.S. airlines, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the market. Its main competitors are Southwest, Delta, and American Airlines. United currently operates eight airline hubs, with the
in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark, and San Francisco. United had the most passengers at Denver International Airport in 2023, with just under 13 million. This was the highest number ever recorded that year.
Trajectories after the coronavirus pandemic
For United Airlines, the pandemic has become a difficult storm to overcome. In the fiscal year 2020, the
number of passengers boarded by United dropped by 64.4 percent. United generated around 462 million U.S. dollars in
revenue from passenger baggage fees in that year, down from more than one billion U.S. dollars reported in 2019. The airline's parent company,
United Airlines Holdings, generated operating revenue of around 15.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, a drastic decrease from the more than 43 billion U.S. dollars reported a year earlier. Despite the challenges, United demonstrated signs of recovery in the subsequent years, exhibiting an operating revenue increase of 60.4 percent in 2021 and an 82 percent increase in 2022, resulting in a new record of just under 45 billion U.S. dollars in operating revenue. Furthermore, in that year, the company registered an initial
net profit of 737 million U.S. dollars, which was the first profit recorded since the onset of the pandemic.
Satisfied customers despite the challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought plenty of disturbances to the aviation industry. Delays and flight cancellations have regularly been part of travelers' rituals in recent years. Notwithstanding all the inconveniences, American air passengers seemed to be satisfied with the way the airlines have managed the situation since the pandemic started. In 2023, the
customer satisfaction index for airlines in the U.S. reached its highest value again since its creation in 1994. United Airlines received a score of 77 from customers, the third-biggest score that year. In addition, United received about six
complaints from customers for every 100,000 people who boarded a domestic flight that year. This figure was significantly lower than Frontier Airlines' approximately 20 customer complaints, which was the highest among other American air carriers for that year.
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