Intern - Global Network Planning, Alliances & UAX (Summer 2024)

There’s never been a more exciting time to join United Airlines. We’re on a path toward becoming the best airline in the history of aviation. We fly over 4,500 flights across 6 continents every day, and we have the largest international route network of any North American airline. We’re growing – in the years ahead, we’ll hire tens of thousands of people across every area of the airline, and we’ll take delivery of hundreds of new aircraft so we can take more people to more places. Our careers include a competitive benefits package aimed at keeping you happy, healthy, and well-traveled. From employee-run "Business Resource Group" communities to world-class benefits like parental leave, 401k and privileges like space available travel, United is truly a one-of-a-kind place to work.

On United’s Global Network & Alliances team, we like to solve puzzles —from where we fly to when we fly, and even what planes we fly. Our team crafts flight schedules, routes, and partnerships that connect our customers with hundreds of destinations around the world. Our team is part of a Commercial organization in United that designs travel experiences that our customers – and employees – love. Get ready to work on our biggest puzzle when you join the Global Network & Alliances team.

Key Responsibilities:

The Global Network & Alliances team includes the areas of Network Planning, Scheduling, Alliances, Strategy/Analytics, and United Express. Interns will complete a project in one of these areas while receiving training and networking opportunities in all areas.

Network Planning

• Manage a portfolio of markets by forecasting and executing tactical and strategic recommendations including seasonal adjustments, aircraft changes, and launching new markets
• Build cross-functional working relationships throughout the commercial organization to align Pricing, Revenue Management, Cargo, Sales, Marketing, and other teams around a unified strategy and improve decision making in all related domains
• Proactively research, develop and present insights with an owner mentality to senior leadership

Scheduling

• Ensure aircraft routing, turn time, and ground time requirements align with United’s operational teams
• Analyze aircraft flows, turn times, equipment type compatibility at each station, gating constraints, crew availability, and other parameters
• Optimize United's schedule for profitability and operability while accounting for other stakeholder priorities, including safety, customer service, airport operations, aircraft maintenance, catering, inflight crew, aircraft performance and others

Alliances

• Evaluate global strategic partnership opportunities within our Analysis, Commercial and Operations teams
• Analyze financial value of partnerships and identify areas to improve revenue and the customer experience
• Negotiate with existing and potential partners, draft contracts and coordinate with stakeholders across various departments in the company

Strategy & Analytics

• Develop long-term strategic plans for United’s fleet, network, relationships with United Express partners, pilots and competitive positioning
• Evaluate and make recommendations to senior leadership on aircraft purchases, retirements or reconfigurations
• Create rigorous, data-driven analytical tools to support the optimization of schedules, fleeting, and overall capacity levels

United Express (UAX) Operations

• Provide support for various deep-dive analyses across the UAX portfolio, which may include customer, operational, commercial and financial data analysis.
• Work with our UAX Partners to identify and track key initiatives that improve performance
• Identify and report key operational trends through analyzing aircraft performance metrics

United values diverse experiences, perspectives, and we encourage everyone who meets the minimum qualifications to apply. While having the “preferred” qualifications make for a stronger candidate, we encourage applicants who may not feel they check ALL of those boxes! We are always looking for individuals who will bring something new to the table!

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree program
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to handle simultaneous projects and adapt to a fast-paced, changing environment
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and strong interpersonal skills
• Proven proficiency in Microsoft Office, specifically PowerPoint and Excel
• Intellectual curiosity, desire to learn, ability to take initiative
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship

This position is a hybrid role including a combination of days worked in our Chicago office and remotely.

What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):

• Analytical / quantitative major, e.g., Engineering, natural sciences, economics/business/finance, statistics, mathematics, etc. encouraged
• Knowledge of Network Planning principles
• Comfort with SQL, Python, R, VBA, or SAS
• Experience with Tableau, Spotfire, or Palantir Foundry
• Planned graduation date between Dec 2024 and July 2025