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United Continental to invest $550M in fleet-wide onboard improvements
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Posted on Aug 22 2011
CHICAGO—United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) today announced it will invest more than a half-billion dollars in its onboard product as it takes another important step in becoming the world’s leading airline. These product improvements include:
Adding flat-bed seating on 62 additional long-haul aircraft, bringing total aircraft with flat-bed seats to 185, more than any other U.S. carrier;
Adding Economy Plus seating and Channel 9 air traffic control audio to more than 300 aircraft;
Nearly doubling the overhead storage space on more than 150 aircraft;
Installing advanced broadband Wi-Fi on more than 200 aircraft;
Introducing streaming wireless video onboard its 747-400 aircraft; and
Completely retrofitting its p.s. fleet with flat-bed seats, Economy Plus, on-demand audio and video and Wi-Fi
These and other planned product changes come in addition to the 25 new aircraft—including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner—that the airline will introduce to its fleet next year. United and Continental have each made significant product and service improvements over the past several years and since the airlines closed their mergerOct. 1, 2010.
“We are making very good progress building the world’s leading airline,” said Jeff Smisek, president and chief executive officer of United Continental Holdings, Inc. “When we announced our merger, we committed to building an airline that our co-workers would want to work for, our customers would want to fly, and our investors would want to invest in. These product enhancements announced today, coupled with our unbeatable route network and loyalty program, will provide an unsurpassed travel experience for our customers. We are planning many other product enhancements, both on the ground and in the air, which we will announce in the future.”[I] (United Continental)[/I]
