Category: Continental Airlines

Interchanges: Through Plane Service in the Regulated Era

15/10/2018

Nowadays if you are an airline operating within the US domestic market and you wish to serve a route pair you simply do just that, after relatively little fuss and bother, but prior to 1978, when the US market was regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Bureau (CAB), starting new routes was a marathon process. Indeed, most of the time getting permission to start a new route, especially if there was any competition involved, was a non-starter. Whence the regulated period threw up a selection of idiosyncratic practices that made sense then but look a bit weird today. One of these was the concept of interchange services.

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Continental's Short Nines Pt3: Houston Proud

4/6/2016

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Technically this blog post isn't about Continental Airlines at all and in truth this DC-9 never flew with CO proper. It did however fly for Continental under what must be an almost unique arrangement whereby one airline charters another to fly for it on a specific route. This DC-9's true operator was in fact the almost forgotten Emerald Airlines - nonetheless she was still Houston Proud.

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Continental's Short Nines Pt2: Lorenzo's 14s

2/6/2016

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As was discussed in part 1 Continental took a punt on the DC-9-15RC in the late 1960s that never paid off and in the end standardised its fleet around the larger 727-200. That wasn't the end for the Diesel Nine at CO however. As the 1980s brought deregulation and merger chaos ominously for Continental and Eastern employees this also heralded the arrival of the great satan: Frank Lorenzo.

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Continental's Short Nines Pt1: Rapid Change

30/5/2016

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Bob Six's Continental Airlines had always been the smallest of the certified trunk airlines but also one of the most adventurous. The US manufacturers were relatively slow to address the need for short-haul jets but as Douglas finally decided upon the DC-9 Continental took one of its characteristic leaps of faith and ordered a new variant. Even though this wasn't a success the DC-9-14/15 would feature in CO's fleet again but for a very different Continental.

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Continental's Baby Boeings Pt2: 300s and 500s

9/3/2016

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Frank Lorenzo is an easy man to hate but amongst the bloodshed and open warfare that was Continental and its Texas Air associates during the 1980s there were a few seeds of positivity. One of these was the purchase of new equipment in the form of Continental's first Boeing 737s. As we have seen soon they would be joined by over forty 737-100/200s but the first 737s were actually new aircraft and the improved series 300 as well.

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Continental's Baby Boeings Pt1: A Hotchpotch of 100s and 200s

5/3/2016

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Continental had shown little, if any, interest in the Boeing 737 when it first appeared during the 1960s. Indeed the airline had purchased DC-9-14/15s in 1966, however even these had short careers with Continental as during the 1970s it consolidated its fleet around 727s and DC-10s. Following the Texas Air takeover, forced bankruptcy, takeover of PeoplExpress and merger with New York Air the new Continental that emerged bore little resemblance to Bob Six's 'Proud Bird with the Golden Tail'. It did however have a hotchpotch fleet, which all of a sudden included a lot of 737s (and DC-9s).

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Vickers Viscount in the USA Pt2: Southwest Jet Power

29/8/2015

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Vickers itself had been working on a stretched Viscount with British European’s order launching the series 801 on February 11, 1953. It entered service on February 18, 1957 by which time another of the smaller US trunk airlines had shown interest in the Viscount after seeing the boost it had given Capital. This airline was Bob Six’s Continental, which was looking for an uprated V801 capable of flying faster and further.

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Contrail Airbuses: Continental's Misfit A300s

17/7/2015

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Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air Group takeover of Continental began a tumultuous phase in the airline's history and by the time he was kicked out it was effectively a new carrier - and one in a right mess at that. Still it survived Lorenzo, unlike its big sister Eastern. Of the many linkages between the two airlines, in the late 1980s, the A300 was perhaps one of the most obvious. The A300 was a fine aircraft for Eastern, but through no fault of its own never really hit it off at Continental.

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Contrails to Honolulu - Continental Airlines Boeing 747-124s

21/12/2014

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I'd had a hole in my CO fleet for a 747 for sometime but had shied away from getting the Jet-X version as the photos I'd seen didn't make it look too nice. I finally relented after giving up on finding any Bigbirds (they seem so rare) and am very glad I did as this year 2000 produced model is actually a real beauty plus CO's 747s have a great history to go with them.

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Contrail Trijets: Continental's Saul Bass Meatball 727s

21/11/2014

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Continental replaced their already nice Golden Jet scheme in 1967 with the classic Saul Bass colours. Commonly called the meatball its real name is 'Contrails'. The black version lasted until 1984 when the livery was modified with a red ball and enlarged titles.

I have both the CO 727-200 releases showing both sets of colours. Continental’s fleet was defined by two types in the 1970s – the DC-10 and the 727-200. 19 of the latter (N88701-15, N32716-19) had been delivered between May 1968 and 1970. Three aircraft (N32721-23) built for THY were delivered in 1972 when deliveries switched to the upgraded Advanced model. 11 Advanced examples were added between 1973 and 1980 (N32724-25, N66726, 31-34, N69735-36, 39-40) with new aircraft deliveries continuing into late 1981 (N69741-42, N79743-46, 48-50) by which time 22 Advanced 727-200s had arrived from Boeing.

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Interchanges: Through Plane Service in the Regulated Era

Continental's Short Nines Pt3: Houston Proud

Continental's Short Nines Pt2: Lorenzo's 14s

Continental's Short Nines Pt1: Rapid Change

Continental's Baby Boeings Pt2: 300s and 500s

Continental's Baby Boeings Pt1: A Hotchpotch of 100s and 200s

Vickers Viscount in the USA Pt2: Southwest Jet Power

Contrail Airbuses: Continental's Misfit A300s

Contrails to Honolulu - Continental Airlines Boeing 747-124s

Contrail Trijets: Continental's Saul Bass Meatball 727s

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