hub system also allows us to add service to a new destination from a large number of cities using only one or a limited number of aircraft. As discussed underAlliances below, United is a member of Star Alliance, the world’s largest alliance network.
Financial information on the Company’s operating revenues by geographic region, as reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation (the “DOT”), can be found in Note 15 to the financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report.
Regional. The Company has contractual relationships with various regional carriers to provide regional aircraft service branded as United Express. These regional operations are an extension of the Company’s mainline network. This regional service complements our operations by carrying traffic that connects to our mainline service and allows flights to smaller cities that cannot be provided economically with mainline aircraft. Republic Airlines (“Republic”), Champlain Enterprises, LLC d/b/a CommutAir (“CommutAir”), ExpressJet Airlines (“ExpressJet”), GoJet Airlines (“GoJet”), Mesa Airlines (“Mesa”), SkyWest Airlines (“SkyWest”), Air Wisconsin Airlines (“Air Wisconsin”), and Trans States Airlines (“Trans States”) are all regional carriers that operate with capacity contracted to United under capacity purchase agreements (“CPAs”). Under these CPAs, the Company pays the regional carriers contractually agreed fees (carrier costs) for operating these flights plus a variable reimbursement (incentive payment for operational performance) based on agreed performance metrics, subject to annual inflation adjustments. The fees for carrier costs are based on specific rates for various operating expenses of the regional carriers, such as crew expenses, maintenance and aircraft ownership, some of which are multiplied by specific operating statistics (e.g., block hours, departures), while others are fixed monthly amounts. Under these CPAs, the Company is responsible for all fuel costs incurred, as well as landing fees and other costs, which are either passed through by the regional carrier to the Company without any markup or directly incurred by the Company. In return, the regional carriers operate this capacity exclusively for United, on schedules determined by the Company. The Company also determines pricing and revenue management, assumes the inventory and distribution risk for the available seats and permits mileage accrual and redemption for regional flights through its MileagePlus® loyalty program.
Alliances. United is a member of Star Alliance, a global integrated airline network and the largest and most comprehensive airline alliance in the world. As of January 1, 2018, Star Alliance carriers served 1,300 airports in 191 countries with 18,400 daily departures. Star Alliance members, in addition to United, are Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways (“ANA”), Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, Avianca Brasil, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, THAI Airways International and Turkish Airlines. In May 2017, Star Alliance added Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines as an additional connecting partner.
United has a variety of bilateral commercial alliance agreements and obligations with Star Alliance members, addressing, among other things, reciprocal earning and redemption of frequent flyer miles, access to airport lounges and, with certain Star Alliancemembers, codesharing of flight operations (whereby one carrier’s selected flights can be marketed under the brand name of another carrier). In addition to the alliance agreements with Star Alliance members, United currently maintains independent marketing alliance agreements with other air carriers, including Aeromar, Aer Lingus, Air Dolomiti, Azul, Cape Air, Eurowings, Great Lakes Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Silver Airways. In addition to the marketing alliance agreements with air partners, United also offers atrain-to-plane codeshare and frequent flyer alliance with Amtrak from Newark on select city pairs in the northeastern United States.
United also participates in three passenger joint ventures, one with Air Canada and the Lufthansa Group (which includes Lufthansa and its affiliates Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and SWISS) covering transatlantic routes, one with ANA covering certain transpacific routes and one with Air New Zealand covering certain routes between the United States and New Zealand. These passenger joint ventures enable the participating carriers to integrate the services they provide in the respective regions, capturing revenue synergies and delivering highly competitive flight schedules, fares and services. United has also implemented cargo joint
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