United Continental outlines merger integration progress

United Continental president and CEO Jeff Smisek stated (27-Oct-2011) the carriers' merger integration is "going well as we approach two significant milestones: our single operating certificate, which we expect to achieve by the end of this year, and our single passenger service system, which we expect to implement by the end of the first quarter of next year." During the quarter, United and Continental made steady progress integrating. The company announced a USD550 million investment in its onboard product, including installing flat-bed seats on additional long-haul aircraft, expanding Economy Plus seating and Channel 9 air traffic control audio to Continental aircraft, nearly doubling overhead storage space on the Airbus fleet, adding Wi-Fi to its mainline fleet and completely retrofitting the premium service. United also introduced its 2012 MileagePlus loyalty programme. The carriers have co-located check-in, ticket counter and gate facilities at 53 airports since closing the merger and now have a single area for check-in at 283 airports systemwide. More than half of the total fleet, or 692 aircraft, is now repainted in the new United livery. [more - original PR]