History of Continental Airlines

It all began on July 15, 1934 with the single-engine Lockheed aircraft on dusty runways in the Southwestern United States.

History

1934
Continental Airlines was founded over 70 years ago by Walter T. Varney and his partner Louis Mueller as Varney Speed Lines. On July 15, 1934, the forerunner of Continental made its first flight on a route of 530 miles from Pueblo, Colorado to El Paso, Texas with stops in Las Vegas, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The same year, Varney ceded control to Mueller.

July 1936
Mueller sold 40 percent of the new company to Robert F. Six, who was in charge of it for over 40 years.

July 1, 1937
Robert F. Six changed the company name to Continental Airlines.

October 1937 Robert F. Six moved the headquarters of Continental from El Paso to Denver.

1940 During the Second World War, Continental Airlines built the Modification Center in Denver where the planes were modified B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-29 Super Fotresses the U.S. military purposes.

December 10, 1953
Continental signed a merger agreement with Pioneer Airlines, which added 16 new towns in Texas and New Mexico to its route map growing.

1960s Continental introduced a new corporate identity in 1968, a rectangular logo that represented the wake of jet aircraft in an orange color scheme, red and gold.

July 1963
Continental moved its headquarters to Los Angeles. During the Vietnam War, Continental U.S. troops transported to the East.

1968
Experience in the Pacific, Continental acquired during the war led to the formation of Air Micronesia. Its first flight covered more than 4000 miles with seven stops from Saipan to Honolulu in the 727-100 nicknamed Ju Ju.

1976-1977
The Continental roadmap experienced significant growth in 1970.

In August 1976, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) awarded to Air Micronesia point routes between Saipan and Japan.
For Continental, the most significant expansion was President Carter's approval of a new route from Los Angeles to New Zealand and Australia in 1977.

February 1, 1987 He became the third largest airline in the United States with the consolidation of Frontier, People Express and New York Air.

February 12, 1991
Continental introduced its new identity blue and gray.

On February 17, 2000
Continental Airlines was named by FORTUNE magazine as the second Most Admired Airline on its list of "America's Most Admired Companies" in its publication of February. 21, 2000. Continental reached a position from number 3, where the classification was in 1999. 3 ranking in 1999.

On October 11, 2000
Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines launched the network of interline electronic ticketing world's largest.

January 29, 2008
Continental's agreement with LiveTV allows the airline to offer 36 channels of live satellite television at every seat of the Next-Generation Boeing 737 and 757-300 aircraft. It is expected that the service offered to passengers on flights within the continental United States from January 2009. In addition, the company expects to introduce Wi-Fi service on board, including email and instant messaging connectivity.

February 4, 2008
Continental Airlines starts using Bombardier Q400 aircraft for regional service based in New York, allowing it to increase its seating capacity in the Newark hub without adding more flights.

February 29, 2008
Continental inaugurated a daily nonstop service from its hub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, three new cities: Greensboro, NC, Omaha, Neb., And Savannah, Ga.

May 2008
Continental launched the first nonstop service history from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Airport Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. In addition to serving as a link to the business communities of both sides of the Atlantic, the Cleveland-Paris route will provide convenient connections for travelers to points throughout Europe, Asia and Africa.

June 2008
Continental announced sustained reductions in capacity, fleet and personnel, including the elimination of 67 mainline aircraft and 3000 jobs. The president and general manager of Continental rejected their salaries for the remainder of 2008.

June 2008
Continental Airlines and United Airlines announced a framework agreement linking their global networks and services to benefit customers and create revenue opportunities, cost savings and other efficiencies. In addition, Continental plans to join United in Star Alliance, the most comprehensive airline alliance in the world.

August 2008 Continental now offers passengers the opportunity to use PayPal to purchase travel on continental.com. Continental customers with a PayPal account can use several different payment options to fund transactions, including PayPal account balances, bank accounts and debit and credit cards. All without losing privacy and security of your financial information.