UNITED AIRLINE HOLDINGS, INC.

External Environmental Analysis of United Airline Holdings, Inc.

Company Overview

Founded in the year 1968 following the merger between Continental Airlines and United Airlines, United Airline Holdings operates in the Airlines industry and concerns itself with the provision of air transportation services. It is important to note that at present, the company operates in multiple locations across the world. More specifically, the company deploys regional as well as local fleets in the transportation of cargo and people across the following regions; North America, Latin America, the Middle East, the Pacific, Africa, Europe, and Asia (United Airline Holdings, Inc., 2021, p. 3). At present, the company has its headquarters in Chicago, IL. It would be prudent to note that prior to the year 2019, the company was referred to as United Continental Holdings. At present, the company happens to be one of the worlds largest airline operators.

As the company points out in its latest annual report, it was founded with the need to connect persons and unite the globe as its core purpose (United Airline Holdings, Inc., 2021, p. 3). Over time, it has grown and consistently expanded its route network. It currently has in its employ more than 84,000 full-time employees (United Airline Holdings, Inc., 2021, p. 10). An assessment of the companys annual report for the year ended 31st Dec 2021 indicates that the company has suffered losses over the last two financial years. In the year 2020, the company made a loss of 7 billion; whereas in the year 2021, it posted a loss of 1.9 billion (United Airline Holdings, Inc., 2021, p. 61). The company attributes this to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it indicates that it remains optimistic about the future, the company is categorical that its future performance will largely be determined by a wide range of factors such as how long the world takes to return to normalcy (United Airline Holdings, Inc., p. 48).

At the helm of the company is a skilled and experienced team of executives led by its Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby. Other key officers of the firm are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; Brett J. Hart (who serves as President), Josh Earnest (who serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer), Torbjorn (Toby) J. Enqvist (who serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer), Theresa Fariello (who serves as Senior Vice President, Government Affairs and Global Public Policy), Kate Gebo (who serves as Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Labor Relations), Linda Jojo (who serves as Executive Vice President Technology and Chief Digital Officer), Gerald Laderman (who serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer), Andrew Nocella (who serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer), and Jonathan Roitman (who serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer) (United Airline Holdings, Inc., 2022). Its Board of Directors comprises of a total of 14 individuals all of whom have served in diverse commercial settings. The company is listed in the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, UAL.

The General Environment

United Airline Holdings, Inc. operates in the Airlines industry (Mergent Online, 2022). From the onset, it would be prudent to note that when it comes to the assessment of the general environment of an enterprise, the relevance of coming up with a PESTEL analysis cannot be overstated. PESTEL analysis, according to Bruin (2016, para. 1), could be conceptualized as technique that comes in handy in the monitoring as well as analysis of the various factors in the macro-environment that could have an effect on the performance of an enterprise. In...

…vision, the company points out that it remains committed to finding solutions that are both effective and innovative, and fully embrace diversity in its engagement with employees. This cannot be deemed an aspirational statement which is what a vision statement should ideally be. For this reason, it would be hard for the company to use the vision statement stated on this front to establish a clear direction for its efforts. With regard to objectives, the company does not have a clearly stated set of objectives. However, an assessment of the companys policies and initiatives, as indicated in its 10-K statement, could offer a sneak preview of its objectives. The said initiatives and policies are: workplace safety; diversity, equity and inclusion; board oversight; and career growth and development and succession planning (United Airline Holdings, 2021). To a large extent, these properly describe the courses of action that United Airline Holdings needs to partake in to achieve certain ends that in the end promote its success. To a large extent, they successfully capture what is crucial in as far as the companys overall strategy is concerned.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, it should be noted that thanks to the analysis conducted above, better perspective of the external environment of United Airline Holdings has been developed. The information contained in this discussion could, thus, come in handy in the preparation of an effective corporate plan for United Airline Holdings. The framework could be employed alongside other tools such as SWOT analysis so as to come up with an ideal business strategy. The analysis above indicates that there are some external factors that could impact the operations of United Airline Holdings. This is more so the case with regard to technology, economic factors, as well as political factors. These are factors whose impact the company should…