United Airlines and Continental Airlines will merge

United Airlines is going to buy Continental Airlines Inc for $3.2 billion, creating the world’s leading carrier. The new airline will be called United Airlines and would be based in Chicago. It will have over $29 billion in annual revenue and the deal is expected to save more than $1 billion a year. The merger brings together two of the world's premier airlines, creating a combined company well positioned to succeed in an increasingly competitive global and domestic aviation industry. The new carrier is considered to be a world-class and truly global airline with an unparalleled network serving communities worldwide with outstanding customer service.

United Airlines has 46,000 employees and a mainline fleet of 333 planes made by Airbus and Boeing Co. It has hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C. and has a strong presence on Asia-Pacific routes, Europe and Latin America. Continental has about 41,000 employees and hubs in Newark, New Jersey, Houston and Cleveland. The new company will have a combined work force of nearly 90,000 employees and a combined fleet of 693 planes. It will continue to serve all the communities each carrier currently serves and will fly 144 million passengers a year to 370 destinations in 59 countries worldwide.

It is believed that the combined company will have more staying power than each of them individually. Experts have said consolidation would lend much-needed stability to the industry, which has been dogged by low-fare competition, terror concerns, volatile fuel prices and overcapacity.

The current world's largest airline is Delta Air Lines which was formed by a merger in 2008 between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.