UAL and Continental Form Partnership With Strong Common Ties

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- UAL Corp's (NYSE: UAL) United Airlines and Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) have forged a deal that falls just short of a merger.

The agreement between the airlines would form a marketing alliance that would have the two working closely for mutual benefit without the risks, labor worries and costs associated with a full blown merger.

The deal would partner United and Continental, ranked 2 and 4 in terms of traffic, in a time when operating an independent airline is risky business. Amid economic woes and rising fuel prices, many airlines have sought out mergers and similiar alliances to help ease costs and lower risk.   

NewsVisual decided to created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate the personal connections between United Airlines and Continental that may have facilitated the alliance.

The Knowledge Map shows a number of diverse industry relationships between the two airlines that may have served as communication paths to help spark discussions of a partnership.

They include the following companies: Marriot International Inc, Bank of America Corp, AAR Corp, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, Prudential Financial Inc, Gannett Co Inc, the Washington Gas Light Co, and the Nash Finch Co.

Though the currently economy and fuel situation does not bode well for major airlines, concrete partnerships through common connections could be the key that gets United and Continental through this rocky time.

Click here for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.