United Airlines’ Organizational Structure

Introduction

United Airlines is a major American airline that operates a huge domestic and international route network spanning all six inhabited continents. It is the third-largest airline in the world measured by fleet size and the number of routes it operates, and the largest in the United States. 

The airline was established in the 1920s with the amalgamation of several airlines and today operates eight hubs, with Chicago-O’Hare being its largest in terms of passenger volume and the number of departures. The airline is also a founding member of Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance with a total of 28 member airlines. 

In total, United Airlines operates a fleet of 903 aircraft, serves 342 destinations, and employs more than 92,000 people as of December 2022. Last year, it reported revenue in excess of US$44 billion.

United Airlines’ Organizational Leadership

United Airlines is led day-to-day by the Executive Team, which consists of the CEO responsible for overall leadership of the organization.

The CEO is supported by nine direct subordinates: the President of United Airlines, who has overall responsible for United’s global operations, and eight SVPs and EVPs who have oversight and responsibility for various functional areas of the organization such as Communications, Operations, and Human Resources.

United Airlines is also overseen by a board of directors, which is the governing body of the company. The board is elected by stockholders, with members often selected for their expertise in a particular area or their industry connections. 

As with many boards, United Airlines’ largely holds an advisory role, but some do have wide-reaching powers, duties, and responsibilities as stipulated by corporate law and government regulations, particularly in heavily regulated industries such as finance and pharma. 

An organization can also elect to give its board supervisory powers and oversight through its own constitution and by-laws.

United Airlines’ Organizational Structure

United Airlines, like most other airlines, operates with both a hierarchical and a functional organizational structure whereby management is organized from the top down, but where there are certain specialized departments or divisions based on the different functions of the business. 

As can be seen in the org chart above, United Airlines has the CEO at the top of the organization who is responsible for overall leadership and reports to the Board of Directors. Below the CEO is the President of United Airlines who has overall leadership responsible for its flight operations, and several other executives who oversee other operational components of the business. 

Want to learn more about them and the role that they play today? Here are some helpful blog resources that you can get started with:

• What Are Organizational Charts?
• What is a Functional Organizational Structure? 
• What is the Matrix Org Structure? 
• The Chain of Command & Why It’s Important

Create this chart in Organimi! 

You can download the CSV file of United Airlines’ org structure, import it into Organimi and start editing this chart right away! Here’s how:

1.  From your dashboard, select Data Import.
2.  Click the CSV tile.
3.  Click +Upload Your File.   
4. Select an Excel file from your device.
5.  In the Organization field, click the down arrow to select an organization.
6. Click Create a New Chart
7. Click Next and select: Organization Chart
8. Select the auto-build tool to automatically build your chart.
9. Voila!

Download CSV file:
United Airlines (15.63 KB)