United Air Lines, Inc., operating as United Airlines, is a major U.S. airline owned by United Continental Holdings (originally UAL Corporation), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

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It is the world's largest airline by number of destinations and scheduled passenger-kilometer flown. The airline was founded in 1926 as Varney Air Lines; it was renamed Boeing Air Transport in 1927 after it was acquired by aircraft manufacturer Boeing. United became an independent company in 1934, and merged with Capital Airlines in 1961. In 2011, it merged with Continental Airlines, replacing its own tulip logo with Continental's globe logo and its aircraft livery.

United is a founding member of the Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world, and offers connections to over 1,000 destinations in over 170 countries worldwide. United's largest hub is George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The airline's regional service is United Express. As of October 2012, United employs 88,253 people, and is headed by Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Smisek.

United operates 705 aircraft, consisting of narrowbody Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737 Next Generation, and Boeing 757 aircraft as well as widebody Boeing 747, Boeing 767, 777, and 787 aircraft. It has single-aisle Boeing 737 Next Generation and 737 MAX aircraft, as well as the widebody Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, on order.

In 2007, United Airlines moved its headquarters and its 350 top executives from its headquarters at 1200 East Algonquin Road in suburban Elk Grove Township to 77 West Wacker Drive after considering alternate locations in Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, California. The Elk Grove Village campus was renamed an Operations Center and United Airlines consolidated several of its offices in the suburbs of Chicago into the Elk Grove Village campus.

After the City of Chicago submitted a US$35 million (2010) incentive, including US$10 million (2010) in gran.