Who Founded United Airlines?

Walter T. Varney founded Varney Air Lines, which won Contract Air Mail Route 5 and flew its first route between Pasco, Washington, and Elko, Nevada, via Boise, on April 6, 1926. Varney Air Lines later became part of the United Aircraft and Transport group, making it United's earliest predecessor. Varney went on to found other aviation ventures, including a predecessor of Continental Airlines.

Walter T. Varney was born in 1888 in San Francisco.

Walter Thomas Varney was born on December 26, 1888 and died on January 25, 1967. He founded forerunners of both United Airlines and Continental Airlines and was a leading airmail contractor. He served as a pilot in the Aviation Section of the US Signal Corps in the First World War.

William Boeing formed Boeing Air Transport in 1927 to fly the Chicago-San Francisco air mail route and then, with Frederick Rentschler, created United Aircraft and Transport Corporation in 1929. The group combined aircraft and engine manufacturers with airlines including Varney, Pacific Air Transport and National Air Transport. After the Air Mail Act of 1934 forced the group to break up, United Air Lines became a separate company. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).