Shareholders of UNITED AIRLINES and CONTINENTAL AIRLINES approved the merger of the 2 companies yesterday to form the world's largest air carrier. More than 98% of the votes cast by Continental's shareholders approved UAL's $3.17 billion all-stock purchase of Continental during a special meeting in Houston. UAL investors approved the deal at a meeting in a suburb of Chicago. UAL and Continental announced their merger in May, 2 years after Continental spurned similar advances from United. The merger, which won antitrust approval from the U.S. government in August and got clearance from the European Commission in July, is expected to close by October 1. The new carrier will be known as United Airlines and will be based in Chicago. Aircraft will sport the name United with a Continental tail, as seen in photo above. The deal is the 1st major US Airline merger since DELTA AIRLINES acquired NORTHWEST AIRLINES and comes after the Airline industry has been hammered by a surge in oil prices followed by a deep recession.
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