W
elcome aboard, and thanks
for choosing United for your
flight today.
Providing youwith safe and reliable air
transportation is our number one priority.
We’re also continuing to invest inproducts
that our customers value.
Last year, we commi ed to a $550 mil-
lion investment in our onboard product,
and our customers are starting to see the
benefits of some of those investments
already. We decided to install the popular
Economy Plus seating on our subsidiary
Continental aircra , and currently 82 per-
cent of the aircra are complete. We also
announced that we would install broad-
band, satellite-basedWi-Fi onourmainline
fleet, so that our customers can stay in
touch no ma er where around the globe
they flywith us. This is a big project for us,
and our first aircra is in service with this
industry-leading technology. We expect
to complete at least 250 aircraft in 2013,
with the remainder of our fleet to follow.
In June, we began flying the first of 14
767-300
aircra to get a totallynew interior,
completewithflat-bed seats andupgraded
entertainment. One hundred fi y United
aircra nowofferflat-bedseatsinpremium
cabins,andweareretrofi ingmorethan30
additional aircra , scheduled for comple-
tion by early 2013. Because of the large size
of our fleet (about 700 mainline aircra ),
many of our product improvements take a
couple of years to roll out, butwe’remaking
good progress for our customers.
In addition to our onboard product,
we’re also investing in brand-newaircra .
In September, we were the first North
American carrier to take delivery of the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Our first Dream-
liner begins domestic service this month,
and international service in December.
The 787 is a game-changing aircraft,
and I’m excited for our customers and
co-workers to experience it.
We also announced an order to pur-
chase 150 brand-newBoeing 737 aircra —
100
Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft and 50
Boeing 737-900ER aircra —for delivery
between 2013 and 2022. These newaircra
will allow us to replace older, less efficient
aircra to reduce fuel and operating costs
and improve reliability, while enhancing
our customers’ experience and opening up
new network opportunities.
We have many more exciting things
ahead as we continue to build an airline
that our customers want to fly, our
co-workers want to work for and our
investors want to invest in—the world’s
leading airline. Thanks again for flying
with us today. We look forward to having
you onboard again soon.
Seeing the Benefits
CEOLETTER
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
UNITED AIRLINES
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
•
NOVEMBER 2012
13
