I respect your opinion, but could you clarify on which 'basics' he is neglecting? From my point of view (aside from natural factors, i.e. weather) Kellner is running about as tight a ship as possible, and CO's product is as consistently strong as I can remember.

Newark is an extremely difficult place to conduct large-scale operations. The runway layout is inefficient, the airspace is nearly maxed out, the weather this summer has been brutal, and the airport is scheduled with more flights than it can realistically handle in perfect conditions. Part of it is Continental's fault, but it is a very profitable shop, so given the challenges associated with it, I think they are doing a serviceable job.

Don't forget the famous Texas summer storms that always seem to muck up IAH at the most inconvenient of times. Throw that into the mix and Continental has an operation that, more so than others, is very much at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Vague predictions over a term of three years are essentially pie-in-the-sky. Sure, you could come back here in 2009 and say, "I told you so" when CO posts a quarterly loss at some point, but neglect to take into account $120/barrel oil (should trends continue) and other difficulties unrelated to Kellner's skill at running an airline. Sure, we all miss the charisma and style of Gordon Bethune, but we also miss the fuel prices and revenue environments of the late 1990s equally as much. I doubt Bethune could do much better than Kellner has in this day and age.

CO 1E,

In all fairness, the separation of EWR's parallel 4/22 runways permits what is known as a 'one-and-a-half' operation. This means while one aircraft is beginning either a departure or arrival phase, the aircraft on the other parallel runway has initiated and is approximately halfway through the opposite phase. In other words, given reasonably good weather conditions and enough traffic where the airport needs to be operating at max efficiency, ideally if a DL MD-88 is on short final for 4R, the CO 777 departing on 4L is already rolling towards V1. In theory, simultaneous operations could be held using the layout, but in the event an aircraft arriving at the same time as another is taking off rejects the landing and goes around, there would be a tremendous risk for a collision, especially if departures are executing noise abatement turns or other procedures in the direction of the arriving traffic. Simultaneous takeoffs or landings on both runways would be illegal due to violation of lateral separation minima.