Silhouetted family walking with luggage in an airport at sunset, United Airlines logo shown

United Airlines Improves App Reliability Through Co-Managed Cloud Support

Industry:
Transportation
Cloud Stack
Cloud Platforms:
Microsoft Azure, Vercel
CDN & Security:
Akamai, Vercel Protection

Company Overview

United Airlines is one of the world’s largest and most recognized airlines, serving millions of passengers globally each year. As a leader in the aviation industry, United relies heavily on its internal digital infrastructure to ensure timely operations and support for its workforce.

Challenges

United Airlines faced recurring availability issues with a mission-critical internal application that was vital to day-to-day operations.

  • Sophisticated IT infrastructure built on Azure, AWS-based Vercel platform, Akamai CDN, and multiple security layers
  • Diverse architecture made identifying and resolving performance and uptime issues a difficult
  • Improved response time through increased visibility and analysis of performance issues
A hand holding a smartphone over a wooden table with papers visible.
Woman sitting in an airport lounge with a tablet, smiling at the camera.

Solutions

United partnered with the Americaneagle Managed Cloud Services (AEMCS) to implement the following support strategy:

  • Collaboration: Integration with United’s support and DevOps departments through Teams, ServiceNow, and SMS to create a seamless, co-managed environment that complemented internal IT resources.
  • Full-Stack Support: Provided hands-on support across the entire cloud ecosystem, including Azure back-end infrastructure and the CDN/security front end powered by Akamai and Vercel Protection.
  • Structured Problem Management: Introduced a streamlined approach to root cause analysis and issue mitigation, reducing the volume of incidents over time.

Results

The collaboration yielded substantial improvements in application stability and internal operations:

  • Significantly Improved Uptime: Supported by comprehensive 24×7 coverage, availability is now consistently above target SLA thresholds across all environments.
  • Recognized Reliability Gains: The application was featured in United Airlines’ internal IT spotlight as a model for reliability and operational success.
  • Integrated Co-Managed Model: The seamless partnership between AEMCS and United’s IT staff became a template for future support models.
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Stats

Decrease in critical alerts enabled more time for the staff to focus providing business value

Uptime helped to reinforce brand reputation