Continental Airlines shares expected to end trading Friday after deal with UAL closes

Continental shares expected to end trading Friday

HOUSTON — Continental Airlines Inc. shares are expected to stop trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday after Continental and United announce they’ve completed their deal to combine into the world’s biggest airline.

The combined airline will carry the United name. The parent will be called United Continental Holdings Inc. and trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “UAL.”

United parent UAL Corp.’s “UAUA” ticker symbol will also go away, replaced by “UAL.” The company used “UAL” until it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002.

The United-Continental deal is a stock swap, with Continental shareholders getting 1.05 shares of United stock for every share of Continental.