United Airlines continues to take steps toward a potential move of its corporate headquarters from Chicago for Denver. While the move isn’t a done deal – and would be several years away – the Chicago-based carrier has already purchased land and has now filed planning documents with Denver officials.
The Denver Post reports the airline has filed plans with the City of Denver indicating potential uses for 113-acres the airline recently purchased near Denver’s airport. United has acknowledged it’s expanding its flight simulator and pilot training base on the site; but the new filing also says, “United is actively investigating programmatic needs to support corporate campus activity accommodating 5,000 employees in future phases of the project.”
United employs nearly 5,000 corporate employees in Chicago.
United executives have said in recent months a move is not “imminent;” but it’s clear the airline is keeping its options open. A United spokesperson recycled a statement from the summer that doesn’t directly address how seriously a headquarters relocation is being considered. “We have been here in Chicago for decades and have thousands of employees here,” the United spokesperson wrote in response to questions. “The land in Denver gives us options for the future as we implement our big plans to grow.”
Denver and Chicago are United’s busiest hub airports and would continue to employ thousands of airport and support workers. Denver is the airline’s fastest growing hub.
The planning documents filed with the City of Denver that call for potentially 5,000 employes are the site are meant to theoretical and not an immediate plan for the use of the property, an airline official cautioned. United currently maintains corporate operations in several of its hub cities including Houston and Denver.
“United informed us that the site utilization is for a pilot training facility,” said Ronnie Reese, press secretary to Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson. “They’ve made no indications about moving corporate headquarters in Willis Tower to Denver.”
Gov. JB Pritzker’s team met with United execs in December to discuss the O’Hare modernization project and the topic of a corporate move didn’t come up, according to a spokesperson.
“United has never indicated to the Governor’s Office that they are planning to relocate their headquarters,” Pritzker spokesperson Jordan Abudayyehand said.
A spokesperson for city’s World Business Chicago did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
United moved from its longtime home near Elk Grove Village to downtown Chicago’s Willis Tower in 2007. The airline’s corporate headquarters has remained in the Chicago region for decades despite mergers with competing airlines based elsewhere.
United’s potential departure follows Boeing’s decision in 2022 to move its much smaller corporate office to a suburb outside Washington, DC.
