Defined Benefit (Pension) · DOL Form 5500 · 2023

United Airlines, Inc. Pension Plan

Data updated 2026-07-24

$231M
Total assets
1,289
Participants
95th
Percentile by assets
$179,582
Avg per participant

Official DOL plan name: The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan · Sponsored by United Airlines, Inc. · Texas · Transportation & Warehousing

$231M in assets, 1,289 participants

United Airlines, Inc.'s The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan reported $231M in total assets and 1,289 participants in its 2023 DOL Form 5500 filing, ranking in the 95th percentile by assets among filed plans. Figures are as reported by the plan sponsor to the Department of Labor, not audited or endorsed by PlainRetire.

  • 95th percentile by assets (of 126,618 plans)

What the 2023 filing shows

The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan holds $231M for 1,289 participants - about $179,582 per participant, in the top 5% of all filed plans by assets, down 4.6% over the 2023 plan year.

$231M
total plan assets (2023 EOY)
1,289
covered participants
95th
percentile by assets (of 126,618 plans)
$179,582
avg assets per participant

The plan reported a net loss of $11M for the year, a single-year figure driven by markets and benefit payments, not a measure of plan health.

State
Industry
Transportation & Warehousing

Defined Benefit (Pension) · DOL Form 5500 · 2023

What the Filing Says About The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan

The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan is a Defined Benefit (Pension) retirement plan sponsored by United Airlines, Inc., headquartered in Texas. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's 2023 Form 5500 filing, the plan reports $231M in total end-of-year assets and covers 1,289 participants across the Transportation & Warehousing industry. The sponsor's EIN on file with the U.S. Department of Labor is 742099724, and the plan has been effective since 2005-04-30. Its filing status is currently FILING RECEIVED.

Year over year, total assets edged down modestly from $243M at the beginning of 2023 to $231M at year-end - down 4.6%. Net assets (after liabilities) closed the year at $231M, with reported net income of -$11M driven by investment returns, contributions received, and benefit payments during the period. These figures reflect what the plan administrator certified on Schedule H or Schedule I of the Form 5500 annual return and can be compared against 2 prior plan-year filings from the same sponsor shown below.

Across the 3 plan years United Airlines, Inc. has on file with PlainRetire (2022-2024), sponsor-wide plan assets have moved from $26.7B to $32.6B, a gain of 22.4%, while reported participants moved from 110,304 to 102,481 (-7.1%). The strongest year on file by total sponsor assets was 2024 at $32.6B; the softest was 2022 at $26.7B. Year-by-year, sponsor-wide filings show: 2022 - $26.7B in assets across 6 plans covering 110,304 participants; 2023 - $31.8B in assets across 6 plans covering 114,586 participants; 2024 - $32.6B in assets across 4 plans covering 102,481 participants.

By assets, The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan outranks 95% of the 126,618 plans that filed a Form 5500 for the 2023 plan year, and holds roughly 2.3x the national average plan size of $100M and 730 average participants.

Asset totals and participant counts reflect a single plan year snapshot and can change materially with market conditions, plan mergers, or workforce changes. Fields such as "net income" include both realized investment performance and contribution/distribution flows, a single-year figure does not by itself indicate plan health or participant outcomes. This page summarizes public DOL disclosures for research and educational purposes only and is not retirement, tax, legal, or financial advice. Before making decisions about your own retirement benefits or evaluating an employer's plan, verify the underlying filing directly via the DOL EFAST2 system and consult a qualified professional.

How the percentile is calculated: we count every plan that filed a 2023 Form 5500 with a reported end-of-year asset figure (126,618 plans), rank The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan against all of them by total assets, and report the share of those plans it outranks. A plan reporting no asset figure for the year is excluded from the ranking rather than assumed to be zero.

Financial Summary (2023)

Total Assets (Beginning of Year)$243M
Total Assets (End of Year)$231M
Net Assets (End of Year)$231M
Net Income-$11M
Plan TypeDefined Benefit (Pension)
Employer EIN742099724
Plan Effective Date2005-04-30
Filing StatusFILING RECEIVED

Sponsor Plan History (United Airlines, Inc.)

$26B$28B$30B$32B$34B 202220232024 $26.7B $32.6B ▲ +22.3%
Total plan assets by year, all United Airlines, Inc. 401(k) plans on file
Year Plans Participants Total Assets
2022 6 110,304 $26.7B
2023 6 114,586 $31.8B
2024 4 102,481 $32.6B

Nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) Plans in Texas

Peer Defined Benefit (Pension) plans, same state, same plan type, ranked by total assets.

The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan vs. nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Texas, assets vs. participants

The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan vs. nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Texas, assets vs. participants Scatter plot of 6 data points. -50000050000100000150000 -10010203040 Total assets ($B) Participants The Continental Pilo…AT&T Pension Benefit…Shell Pension PlanExxonmobil Pension P…Caterpillar Inc. Ret…Bp Retirement Accumu…
The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan vs. nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Texas, assets vs. participants

Similar-Sized Defined Benefit (Pension) Plans Nationally

Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in other states closest to The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan by total assets, not by location.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much money is in the The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan?
As of the 2023 Form 5500 filing, The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan holds $231M in total assets with 1,289 participants. It is sponsored by United Airlines, Inc..
What type of plan is The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan?
The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan is a Defined Benefit (Pension) plan. It has been effective since 2005-04-30. The plan is filed with the U.S. Department of Labor under EIN 742099724.
Who sponsors the The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan?
The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan is sponsored by United Airlines, Inc., located in Texas. The sponsor's EIN is 742099724 and the plan operates in the Transportation & Warehousing industry.
How did The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan perform in 2023?
The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan edged down modestly - down 4.6% during 2023, moving from $243M to $231M in total assets. Net income was -$11M.

What this filing means

Ways to act on The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan's numbers.

  • By total assets, The Continental Pilots Retirement Plan ranks in the top 5% of all filed plans by assets. See the largest plans
  • Compare it side-by-side against 3 similar Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Texas. Compare plans
  • United Airlines, Inc.'s sponsor-wide assets have grown 22.4% since 2022 across 3 plan years on file. More Transportation & Warehousing plans
  • A Defined Benefit (Pension) plan works differently from other retirement plan types, understand the structural differences before comparing. Compare plan types

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Plan year 2023.

Source: DOL EFAST2 filing system (efast.dol.gov) - original filing retrieval by EIN 742099724.

Reference: IRS Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business, contribution-limit rules.

Reference: IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from IRAs, RMD rules under SECURE Act 2.0.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA). See our methodology for details.

Every figure on PlainRetire is rendered directly from the Department of Labor's Form 5500 annual return filings, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-07-24.