The planned merger of Continental Airlines with United Airlines has been shown green flag by the Government. The deal is expected to get completed in October and the combined operations of the entities will initiate from the next year, sometime in March.

The sanction for the merger was declared by the Department of Justice on Friday. The merger of the two airlines into a single concern, which is possibly to be named as United Airlines, will be the world's largest airline. The deal was approved, after Continental agreed to shift its Dallas-based Southwest Airlines 18 from Newark Liberty International Airport, where it would have threatened the competition.

The merger was announced by Houston-based Continental and Chicago-based United on May 3. The collaborative entity will have its headquarters in Chicago, under the stewardship of Jeff Smisek, Continental CEO. The signs of the two airlines will remain the same.

As told by Continental, there are chances that the merger gets completed on October 1, but the two airlines will operate independently for at least a year, till they get a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. The shareholders of the two Companies are yet to give their consent to the merger, which is likely to take place in meeting to be held on September 17.