Continental Airlines history

As an upshot of all this, Six bought into the airline with US$90,000 and became general manager on July 5, 1936.

The carrier was renamed Continental Air Lines (later changed to "Airlines") on July 8, 1937.

In the midst of his expansion efforts, Six left the company in August of 1942 to enlist in the United States Army, leaving Continental in the hands of a lawyer named Terrell Drinkwater.

The livery, which was originally used on aircraft beginning in 1947 and is called The Blue Skyway, was selected by Continental employees.

By the end of the 1950's, Continental Airlines had expanded its routes to include Chicago and Los Angeles and was operating 7 days a week.

The expenditure represented Continental's gross income for the entire year of 1951, but also made clear Six's commitment to investing in the company's future.

In 1953 Continental purchased all the stock of Pioneer Airlines which included the rights to fly into Dallas/Ft.

1955: Three new cross-country routes are added in an expansion drive.

In its first 35 years it registered its only loss in 1958.

One of Continental's early innovations was a system-wide economy excursion fare which cut the standard coach fares by more than 25%. Continental took delivery of the first of five 707-124s in spring 1959, and started Chicago-Los Angeles nonstop on June 8.

On December 12, 1961, rather by surprise, Six and a man named Ted Baker of National Airlines (an East Coast competitor of Eastern Airlines) announced a merger of their two companies.

To amazement from the industry he introduced the economy fare on the Chicago-Los Angeles route in 1962.

In 1963, the Civil Aeronautics Board finally released Continental from its obligation to operate a number of unprofitable rural air services that fed passenger traffic into larger air terminals.

In November of 1967 Continental was awarded routes to various islands in Micronesia and Northern Mariana.

In 1968 a new livery was launched: orange and gold cheatlines on a white fuselage; and a black "jetstream" logo (by Six's friend, the noted graphic designer Saul Bass) on the iconic "Golden Tails" of the airline's aircraft.

In September 1969 Continental began flights from Los Angeles to Honolulu/Hilo and one month later from Albuquerque to Chicago, San Antonio, and San Francisco.

However, the high cost of fuel and poor economic conditions caused business in the airline industry to decline steadily through the mid-1970’s.

Continental's 747 services from Chicago and Denver to Los Angeles and Honolulu set the standard for service in the western United States On June 1, 1972, Continental's widebody DC-10 service began.

The same innovations introduced on the 747s appeared on Continental's DC-10s, including the "Polynesian Pub", but after the 1973 oil crisis more seats were needed and the DC-10 pubs were removed.

Serling, Robert J., The Story of Robert Six and Continental Airlines, New York: Doubleday, 1974.

Three of the 747s were later sold to Iran in 1975.

His employment paved the way for the hiring of ethnic-minority pilots by all United States carriers, an industry milestone which was finally realized in 1977 after Southern Airways hired their first minority pilot.

October 1978 saw Continental begin flights from the New York area airports to Houston and Denver, and from Denver to Phoenix.

The South Pacific service began May 1, 1979.

The merger plans collapsed in March of 1981 when Frank Lorenzo announced that his Texas Air Corporation would be increasing its ownership of Continental stock from 4.24% to 48.5% as part of an effort to take over Continental.

At the annual meeting on March 30, 1982, Robert Six, at the age of 74, retired from Continental.

After 19 months of negotiations, the International Association of Mechanics and Aerospace Workers went on strike in August 1983, even though the company was offering 20 percent pay raises in return for substantial productivity improvements.

Continental became vastly more competitive with the new airline startups then emerging and thriving in the southwestern United States By the end of 1984, Continental had grown back to be a larger airline than pre-bankruptcy and that year recorded a $50 million profit.

On April 28, 1985, Continental inaugurated its first scheduled service to Europe with flights from Houston to London/Gatwick.

With a reorganization plan that repaid creditors 100 percent, Continental emerged from bankruptcy on June 30, 1986, with improved asset and cash flow positions and a more competitive route structure with routes radiating to every large United States city from major hubs at Denver and Houston.

Additional service from Newark to London and Paris started after the airline's merger with PeopleExpress Airlines in 1987.

In 1988, Lorenzo sold Eastern's "Air Shuttle" service to Donald Trump in an effort to keep the airline afloat.

Continental filed for bankruptcy in December 1990.

In 1991, Continental introduced a new livery, the blue and gold globe livery, now used by United.

In November 1992, Continental accepted a $450 million buyout offer from an investor group composed of Air Partners, an investor from Texas led by Texas Pacific Group, and Air Canada.

Continental emerged from bankruptcy in April 1993.

To do so, Bethune tied company bonuses to on-time performance, as a means of improving the company's dismal last place standing among major airlines for on-time performance in 1994.

In 1995 it was named Business Week's NYSE "Stock of the Year." Fortune also name its stock "Best Investment" of 1995.

levere, jane l. "continental airlines is wooing elite-level frequent fliers from its competitors." the new york times, 31 january 1996. available at http://search.nytimes.com.

Intending to increase traffic, Continental announced a bid made in April 1997 for a 20-percent interest in Argentine carrier Aerolineas Argentinas.

Upgrading its reputation, as of March 1998 Continental has commitments to purchase 154 jet aircraft from Boeing Co., estimated to be a $6.7-billion investment.

In 1999, Continental Airlines started service between Newark and Zurich, Switzerland, and from Cleveland to London.

Continental sold its own minority stake in America West in 2000, and two years later ended a code-sharing agreement with the Phoenix-based airline.

On March 1, 2001, Continental launched a non-stop service from Newark to Hong Kong, operating over the North circumpolar route.

ExpressJet Holdings Inc., the parent company for the regional jet unit Continental Express, was spun off in April 2002 in an IPO that raised $480 million.

In his final year piloting the airline Fortune magazine ranked Continental 2004's No.

Two years later the airline left the SkyTeam Alliance, of which it had been a member since 2005, to join the Star Alliance, the world’s largest global airline partnership.

By May 2006, the carrier's passenger traffic surpassed that of Northwest Airlines, and Continental became the fourth-largest United States carrier.

In 2007 reports began to surface of a potential merger with United Airlines.

United and US Airways were in advanced merger talks in late April 2008, following the announcement that Continental had broken off talks with United.

The airline also reduced capacity and eliminated 67 mainline aircraft from its fleet by the end of 2009, retiring all of Continental's 737-300s and all but 35 of its 737-500s.

On May 2nd, 2010, the boards of both airlines approved a stock-swap deal that would combine United and Continental to form the world’s largest airline.

The official end to Continental came on November 30th, 2011 when the combined airline acquired a single operating certificate.

Although the two airlines remained separate until the operational integration was completed by mid-2012, as of that day both airlines were corporately controlled by the same leadership.

United Airlines, Inc. merged into Continental Airlines, Inc., with Continental Airlines, Inc. being the surviving corporate entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of the UAL Corporation, on March 31, 2013.

On Thursday June 27, 2019 United changed its parent company name from United Continental Holdings to United Airlines Holdings.

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