United Airlines will finally shutter Continental Saturday, two years after the merger that created the world's largest airline.
As part of the merger agreement, United kept its name and the headquarters (Chicago), Continental kept the CEO (Jeffery Smisek) and globe livery.
The final Continental flight takes off Friday night. Flight 1267 is scheduled to depart from Phoenix at 11:59 p.m. (Pacific time), and arrive in Cleveland as a United flight Saturday morning, the Associated Press reports.
Come Saturday, all reservation data will lay in one system (when Virgin America switched over in the fall, it created a big headache for the airline). The company will run one frequent-flier program and tickets, counters and signage will all say United.
Continental Airlines has spent months training United employees on the system, Reuters reported earlier this week.
Continental's website will go dark at 2 a.m. EST Saturday. The AP reports that United will have the switch completed in time for check-in for 6 a.m. flights Saturday.
In honor of the momentous occasion, we decided to cull the Continental archives for photos from throughout the airline's history. United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson told The Huffington Post, “It will be tough for many of us to see the Continental name go away, but this is an important step in offering travelers the simpler, easier experience that they’ve asked for since the United and Continental merger.”
Photos courtesy of United Airlines Creative Services unless otherwise noted..
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that United was training Continental employees on the reservation system. In fact, it is the opposite.
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