The boards of United Airlines and Continental Airlines approved the mammoth merger yesterday, but the ink hardly was dry when they published a spiffy merger website this morning.
It's a great communications move as the website answers many top-of-mind questions, including:
- The combined airlines would be called United Airlines, but use Continental logos;
- Continental CEO Jeff Smisek would be CEO, United CEO Glenn Tilton would be nonexecutive chairman, and Smisek would become chairman at Tilton's exit in two years;
- There will be roughly equal numbers of management from each airline;
- United shareholders will have a majority stake and the merged airline would be headquartered in Chicago;
- The merged airline would deliver $1 billion to $1.2 billion in annual synergies by 2013.
The merger is subject to standard regulatory and shareholder approvals.
The merger website has an image of the new branding, a FAQ, an interactive map which depicts number of departures by state, a route map, and the announcement press release.
The website is clean, upbeat and informative.
All in all, it's a great start for the two airlines out of the gate.