New 777s Ordered!
 

Continental Airlines Orders Two New Boeing 777-200ER Widebody Jets to Support International Expansion
HOUSTON, July 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today announced that it has ordered two additional Boeing 777- 200ER (extended range) widebody airplanes from The Boeing Company, as the airline continues its international route expansion.

At a George Bush Intercontinental Airport ceremony, seven Continental employees signed the aircraft order alongside Continental Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner, Continental President Jeff Smisek and Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally.

"The 777 is the long-range workhorse in our all-Boeing fleet, and will serve the most profitable segment of today's aviation market -- long-haul international routes," said Kellner.

"We have Continental employees signing this order, because it was the sacrifices they made with their pay and benefit reductions that made our growth strategy possible. These new aircraft will help deliver more career opportunities and better job security for our employees, while giving our customers superior comfort and the ability to fly to more international destinations nonstop on their favorite airline."

Signing the order for Continental were:
* Juan Rahme, international city ticket office agent
* Ernesto Baquedano, lead transportation agent, Chelsea Catering
* Cristina Odoardi, airport sales agent
* Louis Olona, lead technician
* Suzanne Ramos, international reservations sales agent
* Kevin Kelly, Boeing 777 captain
* Robert Hughes, crew scheduling supervisor

Continental currently operates 18 777-200ERs in a 283-seat configuration and flies them on long-distance international routes such as Houston-Paris, Houston-Tokyo, New York-Beijing and New York-Tel Aviv. Continental plans to start New York-Delhi service this fall using Boeing 777-200ERs.

"Our enduring partnership with Continental Airlines has helped make the 777 the preferred airplane in its class for both passengers and airlines," said Mulally. "We're especially proud today to have the airline and its employees choose Boeing and the 777 to meet its growing need for international long-haul airplanes."

The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2007. Boeing has agreed to provide backstop financing for the aircraft.

All Continental 777 aircraft feature Continental's renowned BusinessFirst service, which won the Best Executive/Business Class award at the OAG Airline of the Year Awards 2005 for the third year running, based on voting by frequent flyers worldwide. BusinessFirst was also voted Best trans-Atlantic Business Class among U.S. airlines in Conde Nast Traveler magazine's Business Travel Awards 2004 for the seventh year in a row.

This premium-class cabin features extra-wide electronic sleeper seats with 55-inch pitch, adjustable winged headrests and personal video screens. Other BusinessFirst amenities include gourmet menus and award-winning wines and champagnes. A specially selected and trained corps of more than 200 concierges provides individualized pre-flight and post-flight services for BusinessFirst customers at 26 key international airports worldwide.

Continental Airlines is the world's sixth-largest airline. Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 3,100 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 150 domestic and 131 international destinations, more than any other carrier in the world. Nearly 400 additional points are served via SkyTeam alliance airlines, which include Aeromexico, Air France/KLM, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines. With 42,000 employees, Continental has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and together with Continental Express, carries approximately 56 million passengers per year. Continental consistently earns awards and critical acclaim for both its operation and its corporate culture.

For the second consecutive year, FORTUNE magazine named Continental the No. 1 Most Admired Global Airline on its 2005 list of Most Admired Global Companies. Continental was also included in the publication's annual "Top 50" list, which ranks all companies, across a wide variety of industries, that appear in the Global Most Admired Companies issue. Continental again won major awards at the 2005 OAG Airline of the Year Awards including "Airline of the Year" and "Best Airline Based in North America" for the second consecutive year, and "Best Executive/Business Class" for the third consecutive year. For more company information, visit continental.com.

SOURCE Continental Airlines
07/28/2005

CONTACT: Corporate Communications of Continental Airlines, 1-713-324-5080, or [email protected]

0709 07/28/2005 14:30 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com

Very nice, just what we all were expecting :)

This is awesome news! Congrats to CO and their employees for making this work.

It will, however, be very interesting to see the operational scheduling after Delhi starts and before the new arrivals in 2007.

MBM3, oracle of newsroom and gatekeeper of the presswire strikes again!
 

Kickass!

Why not the LR ?
 

If you're buying new 777s, why not get the Long Range? Or go straight to the Dreamliner?

OK, I'm thinking maybe they have an option from an earlier purchase, so they get a better price.

Any thoughts ???

EmailKid

1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Entropy is jumping with Joy!

Reason 1) as nice as 772LRs would be to have, they don't need them
Reason 2) 772LRs cost millions more than 656K.lb 772ERs.


Reason 1) they already have
Reason 2) the Dreamliner has the range but not the payload uplift nor capacity that they need on the routes for which these aircraft are intended

one item of note is that these AC will not be delivered until 1Q07.
so not soon enough for next year with DEL and PEK in the mix, so we're still looking at summer 06 downgagues of MAD, CDG and some LGW to double 752s.

Remember that CO will need 777s to service PVG when it gets this route authority and it could be planning in advance with this order.

Also, did anyone notice the absence of anyone from the Flight Attendants as a signor or the order? Things apparently still not going well on that front:(

FA relations seem to be very cold.. w/UA also.

it hadn't escaped my notice about the PVG route... and I doubt it will escape the DOT's mind that CO is the only major buying a bunch of new all-Boeing aircraft (aside from their market justification for the route).

I thought some 777 production slots were recently relinquished by another carrier (AC?) Any chance these are AC from those slots? How far out is Boeing booked on the 777?

In addition, how flexible are the production schedules. Is it possible or even worth it to attempt a swap with another airline?

word on the street is that the slots were from AC, but those were for 773ERs.

the 777 order book is pretty strong for the next several years.

You are right, things are not going well. They company is playing hardball by going to mediation. They just want an impasse to be declared so that they can impose their own terms. You know, whenever you questioned Gordon about something that he got, his response was, 'It's in my contract!". The same from Larry and the others. Well, what about our contract? They are in no danger of losing their 'protected pension', but we are. And that is just what they want with the new legislation in Congress, more time to fund and then cancel the program. The company is also banking on the group not striking, but everyone I have talked to has no problem walking out. I expect a lot of surface bargaining on the part of the company just to stonewall the mediator into declaring an impasse. Anyway, didn't mean to hijack the thread, and I am glad to see these new orders, but I wish that the company would start showing some of that 'dignity and respect' that they are always throwing out!!!

the fact of the matter is, and I said this on the UA forum...

the FAs seem to be more problematic than other work groups when it comes to contracts.