Continental Airlines (IATA: CO, ICAO: COA, and Callsign: Continental) (NYSE: CAL) is an American airline. Based in Houston, Texas, it is the 5th largest airline in the U.S. and the 6th largest in the world.

From its largest hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport,and its other hubs at Newark, and Cleveland, Continental flies to destinations throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Its affiliate airline, Continental Micronesia, covers cities in Hawaii, Polynesia, Micronesia, Australia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia from its hub in Guam.

Continental is a minority owner of Expressjet, which operates under the trade name Continental Express. Cape Air, Colgan Air, Commutair, and Gulfstream International Airlines feed Continental's flights under the "Continental Connection" name.

Since September 2004, Continental has been a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, which it joined alongside Northwest Airlines and KLM. Previously, it was part of the now-defunct Wings Alliance. In addition to extensive code-share arrangements with SkyTeam partner airlines such as Delta Air Lines, the airline also code-shares with Amtrak to some cities in the northeastern United States, and with SNCF French Rail to stations in France.

History

Early history

Continental Airlines began service in 1934 as Varney Speed Lines, named after its initial owner, Walter T. Varney, first operating out of El Paso International Airport. Varney Speed Lines changed its name to Continental on 1 July 1937 after new owner Robert Six had taken over. Six moved the airline headquarters to Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colorado in October of that same year. He went on to preside over the airline for 40 years.

In the 1940s Continental's Denver headquarters became a conversion center where the airline took care of converting B-27s and B-29s for the United States military during World War II.

The airline's route network was limited to the southwestern United States for many years. In 1953, Continental merged with Pioneer Airlines, gaining access to 16 more cities in Texas and New Mexico. In 1957 it flew for the first time from Chicago to Los Angeles. Although the airline took deliveries of its first jet aircraft in 1958, its Boeing 707s did not fly to the East Coast.

In 1963 the company's headquarters moved to Los Angeles and in 1968 a new livery was launched, the orange and gold cheatlines adorned with a black global circle on the jet's tails. Later in the 1960s, the airline transported American soldiers to Vietnam, and realizing there was a market in the Pacific Ocean, Continental set up an airline in Micronesia, Air Micronesia. This airline is nowadays known as Continental Micronesia and uses Continental's livery on its jets. 1969 saw service to Honolulu begin, and in 1970, Continental's first Boeing 747 arrived. DC-10s were added to the fleet soon after, and the rest of the 1970s saw Continental's trans-Pacific expansion continue, landing in Auckland and Sydney by 1977.

First bankruptcy

In 1978, the Airline Deregulation Act was passed by Congress, creating problems throughout the airline industry that spurred many airline mergers. After considering a merger with Western Airlines, Continental merged with Texas International based in Houston in 1982 where the headquarters subsequently moved. The merger gave Continental its current hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport routes to Mexico; it also gave Continental a new CEO, former Texas International chief Frank Lorenzo. In 1983, Continental filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code: much of the airline was liquidated and the company was rebranded as a low-cost carrier. Continental was also forced to abandon its hub in Los Angeles, although it maintained its South Pacific routes.

In 1985, Continental made its first rebound by starting flights from Newark and Houston to London. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 1986. Just one year later, Lorenzo decided to purchase People Express and its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, making Continental the third-largest airline in the U.S. 1987 saw the creation of the OnePass frequent flyer program, and in 1988 Continental made its first partnership ever, with SAS.

Second bankruptcy

Continental filed for bankruptcy again in 1991, shortly after unveiling a new white and blue livery. There were a number of circumstances behind the second bankruptcy: Lorenzo left Continental to dedicate himself full time to Eastern Airlines, and gas prices had risen because of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the resulting Gulf War. People Express had also been highly leveraged at the time of its merger with Continental, having purchased Frontier Airlines just two years before. In 1993, Air Canada, along with Air Partners and Texas Pacific Group, aided Continental in coming out of chapter 11 once again by investing $450 million dollars in the airline. Under the leadership of Gordon Bethune, Continental subsequently ordered new Boeing aircraft - converting to an all-Boeing fleet - and scaled down their expensive Denver hub until it was closed entirely in 1995. Bethune chronicled his experiences in the book From Worst to First.

Continental went on to expand its international operations. In 1998, it launched flights to Ireland and Scotland, and in October of 1998 the airline received its first Boeing 777, allowing non stop flights from Newark and Houston to Narita, Japan. Continental also launched partnerships with Northwest Airlines, Copa, Avant Airlines, Transbrasil, and Cape Air, and Continental and America West Airlines became the first two US airlines to launch interline electronic ticketing. In 2002, Continental announced that it would open a hub at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico to compete with American Airlines.

In March 1, 2001, Continental had a breakthrough by launching a non-stop flight from Newark to Hong Kong, flying over North Pole, which was the first non-stop long haul-flight service for any airline with flying duration of 16 hours. However, the September 11 attack in New York caused service to be suspended until August 1, 2003. The launch in 2001 started the battle between Continental, United Airlines and Cathay Pacific over non-stop flights between Hong Kong and New York. Both United and Cathay have since canceled their non-stop service.

On February 22, 2005, the United States Department of Transportation announced that both Continental and American had won a battle with Delta Air Lines to operate flights to China, with Continental offering a daily flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Beijing beginning June 15, 2005. With the announcement, both Continental and American, along with United, will become the only three United States based airlines to offer non-stop flights between the United States and Mainland China in history. Continental also flies nonstop from Newark to New Delhi and plans to start service from Newark to Shanghai in 2007.

Incidents and Accidents

On 2 March 2005, there was an incident at Newark Liberty International Airport with a Continental Airlines Boeing 777-200 aircraft with 14 crew and 198 passengers on board. At rotation the aircraft lifted off the runway and settled back on again before taking off properly. However, the crew were aware that a tail scrape had taken place, so they landed back uneventfully. The rear pressure bulkhead was found to have been damaged (ref: Flight International, July 2005).

Destinations

Fleet

Continental's fleet consists entirely of two-class aircraft (First and Economy on domestic flights, and "BusinessFirst" and Economy on international flights). The fleet comprises the following aircraft (at September 2005):

• 18 Boeing 777-200 - found on intercontinental flights (further 2 on order)
• 16 Boeing 767-400 - two versions exist; one is used by Continental Micronesia and is also used for mainland flights to Hawaii, while the other has more BusinessFirst seating and is used for flights to Europe and Asia
• 10 Boeing 767-200
• 9 Boeing 757-300
• 41 Boeing 757-200 - used on both domestic and international flights, with domestic flights (shown on the schedule as 757) having 24 regular first class seats, and international flights having 16 BusinessFirst sleeper seats (shown on the schedule as 752)
• 51 Boeing 737-300
• 63 Boeing 737-500
• 36 Boeing 737-700
• 93 Boeing 737-800 (further 1 on order)
• 12 Boeing 737-900

In addition, Continental and Boeing announced on December 29 2004, that the airline had agreed to purchase 10 787-824 aircraft from Boeing, with first delivery starting in 2009. This makes Continental the first major US airline, and second US carrier overall (after Primaris Airlines) to order the new advanced plane from Boeing.

See also

• OnePass
• Continental Airlines Arena

External links

• Continental Airlines
• Continental Airlines Fleet Detail
• Continental Airlines Passenger Opinions
• Continental Airlines Cargo
• Guide to earning miles on Continental Airlines
• Comparison Guide for OnePass online shopping as well as other major programs.
• Photos of Continental Airlines aircraft