Continental, UAL Set to Announce Merger
HOUSTON (
) --
Continental Airlines
(CAL) - Get Report
and
UAL's
( UAUA) United Airlines are expected to announce Monday they are merging to form the world's largest airline, the
Wall Street Journal
reports.
UAL's board of directors is meeting Friday, while Continental's board is meeting Friday and Sunday to discuss the deal, the
Journal
reports, citing people familiar with the matter.
The talks could still fall apart as they did in 2008, when Continental backed away, these people said.
A Continental and UAL merger would make the airline the biggest in the world by number of passengers carried, putting it ahead of
Delta
(DAL) - Get Report
.
The Continental/UAL talks came quickly after
US Airways
(:CC)
with United about a week ago.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel in New York.
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