September 12, 2006 – Capital to Capital

Hi, it's Glenn, and it's Tuesday the 12th of September, and I am calling today from Chicago.  I am joined on the call today by Mike Whitaker, vice president - Alliances, International and Regulatory Affairs, who will discuss in greater detail our competitors' application to fly to China and United's proposal to connect Washington, D.C., to Beijing.

The route itself is as significant for Washington, D.C., as it is for us at United.

The United States is the largest economy in the world, and yet today our capital has no direct flight to China's capital, which is the fastest-growing major economy in the world.

It is extraordinary that 28 capitals of other countries, including London, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow and Delhi, all connect directly to the Beijing, while the U.S. capital does not.

This is a unique route case for United, as it closes that service gap and provides much-needed capital-to-capital connectivity for our customers, governments, commerce and culture.

So, Mike, with that, I'll turn the call over to you.

MIKE:

Thanks, Glenn

The aviation agreement between the U.S. and China allows one new daily flight to China beginning next summer.

There are four airlines competing for this one new route:

• American has applied to fly from Dallas to Beijing.
• Continental applied to fly from Newark to Shanghai.
• Northwest wants to serve Detroit-Shanghai.
• And, as Glenn mentioned, we've applied for Washington-Beijing service, which we would serve out of our Dulles hub with a 747.

This case will be decided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, based on which carrier has the best route application.

• Over the next six weeks or so, carriers will be filing the economic data to support their respective cases -- how many passengers we expect to carry, what type of aircraft, and why our case is better than others'.
• Then each carrier submits a brief to the DOT on October 31, summarizing their arguments.
• The DOT will deliberate the case during the month of November and likely make a decision by the end of December, though those dates could slide.

United is not alone in wanting to see service in the Washington-Beijing market. Today, there will be a press release announcing the formation of the Capital-to-Capital Coalition -- a group of businesses, political leaders, transit authorities, organizations and individuals with an interest in seeing nonstop service between the capitals.

United is involved with this coalition, as is the Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority.  Jane Garvey, former FAA administrator under presidents Clinton and George W. Bush; and James Bennett, president and CEO of MWAA, are co-chairs of this group.  The coalition has a Web site, capitaltocapital.net, where not only United employees can show their support, but you can direct your friends, relatives and interested customers to the Web site and they can become members of the coalition.

Washington, D.C., is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the U.S.  As Glenn says, Washington, D.C., is also the largest U.S. air travel market lacking nonstop service to China.  United, with the help of the coalition, is committed to filling that critical service need.

Also, as we announced last week, all United employees have an opportunity to show our support for this route.  Thousands of employees already have sent letters to the DOT and their elected officials via SkyNet.  If you haven't logged on to SkyNet to show your support, please do.  And, I also encourage you to visit the coalition Web site at capitaltocapital.net.

There are many other elements to this campaign, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for our competitors as this effort intensifies over the coming months. There's more to come.

Glenn?

GLENN:

Thanks very much, Mike.

Having served China for more than two decades, we at United know the importance of the market to our customers.  We look forward to the opportunity to provide the service that connects the commerce, the governments and the cultures of China and the United States and enables diplomacy during a time when people-to-people contact has never been more important in the world.

I'll be talking to you again soon.  Until then, stay focused on our customers, on one another... and stay united.