United Airlines on Wednesday marked its 85th anniversary with the unveiling of an Airbus A320 painted in the airline’s 1970s-era “Friend Ship” livery at an employee celebration at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
The airline’s history began on April 6, 1926, with an airmail delivery using a small Swallow biplane owned by Walter Varney -- who founded Varney Air Service in 1926. He would later sell the company to United Aircraft and Transport, who later changed its name to United Air Lines in 1933.
In 1926, roughly 6,000 Americans paid for travel by air, buying tickets at the aircrafts door. In 1930s, that number rose to about 170,000.
Today, United Airlines flies more than 150 million passengers yearly from nearly 375 airports worldwide -- about half the population of the United States. The airline takes to the sky at least 5,675 times daily.
In May 2010, United Airlines merged with Continental Airlines to become the world’s leading airline.
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