The History Of Continental Airlines And Continental-United Airlines

Continental-United Airlines Merger

Since the beginning of time man has always dreamed of flight and throughout the ages has made many failing attempts. Some of the first records of attempted flight date back to the ancient Greek times when Daedalus and Icarus had their catastrophic failure. Finally in the early 1900s the Wright brothers had the right stuff and made the first flying powered aircraft, thus the world of Aviation was born. When it comes to Aviation the main purpose is obviously travel and getting from point A to point B in a very short amount of time. During the early days of flight air travel was very primitive in nature and could be downright dangerous; because not only were there very few rules and regulations, but there were not any legitimate air carriers specifically in the business for carrying passengers. Soon after the advent of flight, many people saw how profitable Aviation could be and took advantage of the market in its infancy, and created the airlines as we know them today. One of those Airlines was Varney Airlines.

United Airlines and Continental Airlines have a very interesting, rich, and almost ironic history. Varney Airlines and air mail service was started by Walter Varney in the early 1920’s and became the United States of America’s first fully functioning airline. During the early 1930s, Varney Airlines began to operate in El Paso Texas, with only six employees made up of only two pilots. After Varney moved its headquarters several times it finally came to rest in Denver in 1937. According to the Texas State Historical Association, “Robert F. Six became president in 1938 and held the position for more than 20 years” (Odintz). This made him one of the longest serving presidents in the company’s...

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...hoose from. Today there are not near as many airlines to choose from which creates an almost monopolistic feel in the airline industry. Now there are maybe two or three airlines to choose from which creates an oligopoly. According to the Huffington Post, “In oligopoly competition situation, prices move in lock step, even without overt (and illegal!) collusion between the parties” (Neches). So in the end the merger is really not looking too good for the Airline industry. Not only is the merger not looking good for the industry, but for the company as well. Merging two broken companies will not produce a strong company. Everything from Computer system malfunctions, union issues, and aircraft malfunctions have plagued every single step of this merger. The United-Continental merger may have made them the largest airliner in the world, but it has not made them the best.