Continental Airlines Liveries
The intention of this page is to describe and show all the Continental Airlines liveries from 1944 until their merger with United Airlines in 2010. Schemes prior to 1944 are not covered and Air Micronesia/Continental Micronesia is also excluded.
1944-1948: SKYSTREAMER DC-3
Continental didn't receive its first DC-3s until at least late 1944 and they were painted in a simple but smart pinstripe scheme with the Thunderbird logo near the rear boarding door. The pinstripe on the fuselage was repeated on the tail. The aircraft had a Skystreamer name forwrad in the cheatline.
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1948-1951: SKYSTREAMER CONVAIRS
The delivery of new Convair 240s allowed for the introduction of a new silver base scheme with a thin pinstripe above the windowline flowing down to the Thunderbird logo at the nose. On the tail a high blue band had the 'Skystreamer' titles placed within it.
1951-1958: BLUE SKYWAY
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As with most US airlines Continental switched to a white top scheme at the start of the 1950s. Initially the white top only reached down to the pinstripe but quickly it was modified to reach below the windowline. The height of the tail sash also was gradually lowered. A second thunderbird logo was added in the pinstripe near the tail.
The airline now advertised passengers to fly 'The Blue Skyway' and these titles were painted onto Convairs and DC-3s in the early 50s. 
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Two of the three DC-6s at times wore hybrid CO/UA or CO/AA schemes due to inter-change services.
Once the size of the white cap was established there were two main variants:
- 1951-1958: Tail titles say 'Continental' in script and old Thundebird (see CV-240 and DC-6 below)
- 1958: Tail titles changed to 'CONTINENTAL' & new Thunderbird (see Viscount and DC-7 below)
The 1941 Thunderbird worn until 1958
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The 1958 Jet Thunderbird
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1958-1959: FIRST GOLDEN JET
After introducing the new Thunderbird logo and altered tail titles on the first Viscounts in 1958 Continental went one further with its first 707-100s introduced in June 1959. The main change was the addition of a golden upper portion to the tail (probably inspired by the 'Luxury Golden Carpet' service provided on the DC-7s). The golden tail didn't really match the red and blue stripes of the old scheme. As far as is known only the 707-124s wore this scheme before it was updated for the Boeing 720s.
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Note also the thin gold line along the silver belly that ends near the nose in a half arrowhead.
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1959 & 1960: NEW THUNDERBIRDS
Continental was obviously not very happy with its first jet scheme and by 1959 was celebrating its 25th year with a new Thunderbird logo and timetables in which the blue and red had been made black. This was then changed again in 1960 to an all gold thunderbird inside a roundel. It wasn't until the delivery of the 720s however that this new all gold combination would see application an aircraft.
1959 Thunderbird
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1960 Thunderbird
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1962-1967: SECOND GOLDEN JET
It wasn't until 1962 that the definitive Golden Jet scheme would be seen, when the new Boeing 720s were delivered. Gone went the blue and red in favour of thin gold pinstripes, a curving silver belly and a simplified golden tail. This scheme was worn by the 707-124s, 707-324Cs, 720s, 727-24Cs, DC-9-15RCs, Viscounts and even a DC-3 or two.
1968-1984: CONTRAILS (BLACK)
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As nice as the Golden Jet scheme was the livery that followed it would be a true classic. Introduced in May 1968 the Saul Bass designed 'Meatball' logo, officially named Contrails, would be Continental's best and most recognisable scheme. It featured a triple cheatline of orange, red and gold with the gold sweeping up onto the tail bearing the logo in black. The titles were reduced to just 'CONTINENTAL' and a red version of the meatball applied before them.
This scheme was worn by 707-324Cs, 720s, 727s, the first 747s, DC-9-15s, DC-9-30s and DC-10s. |
1977: EXPERIMENTAL CONTRAILS
In 1977/78 a pair of 727s (N24728 and N18478) were painted into a modified Saul Bass scheme with a tapering cheatline at the nose. It wasn't taken up.
N24728 at SAN in Dec 1977. Photo by Frank C. Duarte Jnr from Airliners.net
1982: TEXAS INT HYBRIDS
The merger of Texas International into Continental in 1982 saw several hybrid variations on Texas Int DC-9s such as:
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1984-1991: CONTRAILS (RED)
The Lorenzo era has forever damaged the image of the Contrails livery but the 1984 update was actually quite tasteful. The meatball's colour was changed to red on the tail and the main titles enlarged. The meatball and flag by the titles was removed. Some aircraft operated in a hybrid version with the new tail and older titles.
During this period Continental had an incredibly diverse fleet and mainline aircraft that wore this scheme included A300s, 727s, 737-100/200/300, 747-100/200, DC-9-10/30s, MD-80s and DC-10s.
During this period Continental had an incredibly diverse fleet and mainline aircraft that wore this scheme included A300s, 727s, 737-100/200/300, 747-100/200, DC-9-10/30s, MD-80s and DC-10s.
1985: WHITE OUTLINE EXPERIMENT
Thank you to John DuPont for telling me about the below experimental Saul Bass variant tried out in 1985. As you can see the main difference was outlining the Contrails tail logo in and changing the base colour to white. I'm not certain how many aircraft wore this variant (John said one of each type) but clearly N531TX did for a time:
MID-80S HYBRIDS
As Texas Air Group merged all its airlines (aside from Eastern) together there were plenty of PeoplExpress, Frontier and New York Air hybrid schemes about:
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1985-1986: CONTINENTAL WEST
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A short-lived low-fares West Coast division of the mainline airline flying on the busy West Coast routes, using at least 3 737-300s, from San Jose to LAX, SAN, SEA and Portland.
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1986: HOUSTON EXPRESS
1991-2012: GLOBE SCHEME
The post-Lorenzo era required a new image to drag Continental out of its dreadful reputation, and the attractive Globe scheme dumped the meatball but kept the gold. The scheme featured a dark blue tail with quarter globe in gold. On the the fuselage a thin gold pinstripe separated the light grey belly from the white roof. This livery was worn by the following types:
- Airbus A300
- Boeing 727-200, 737-100/200/300/500/700/800/900/900ER, 747-100/200, 757-200/300, 767-200/400, 777-200
- Douglas DC-9-30
- McDonnell Douglas MD-80, DC-10-10/30
1993-1995: CONTINENTAL LITE
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An early attempt at an airline in an airline Continental Lite operated up the East Coast from a Greensboro hub. It didn't last long. Types utilised included 737-200/300/500s and DC-9-30s.
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2009: BLUE SKYWAY RETRO
In 2009 an employee chosen scheme was selected to celebrate the airline's 75th anniversary. The result was a 737-900ER, N75436, was repainted into the classic 1950s Blue Skyway scheme.
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Tomás Del Coro from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]
2009/2010: STAR ALLIANCE LIVERY
After Continental left Skyteam and joined Star Alliance in October 2009 at least five aircraft were gradually painted into alliance colours. These included the 777-200ERs N76021 and N78017, 737-700 N13720, 737-800 N26210 and 757 N14120.
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Boeing 777-224ER - Star Alliance (Continental Airlines) (N76021).JPG: Eluveitiederivative work: --Chrumps [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
2010-2019: UNICON
The 1991 Globe livery would go on to form the basis of the new United Airlines scheme following the 2010 merger with Continental, which was officially consummated in March 2012. There were still a couple of Continental 737s with CO titles left after that date. Although the surviving name is United Airlines the operating certificate being used is Continental's.
Jules Meulemans [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)]