Continental & United Merger

[Hartmann]

The newly painted plane will arrive at IAH tonight around midnight from Amarillo (where a good chunk of the painting is being done). It arrives as flight 9971 and will depart tomorrow morning as Continental Flight 346 to Chicago for the announcement.

[DefenDallas]

I don't see how this benefits anyone. Most of the routes and cities overlap. At least Continental-United was somewhat complimentary.

I used to fly AirTran a lot until it started cutting cities. I think I flew Chicago to Newark six times or more. But the writing was on the wall when AirTran pulled out of Indianapolis.

I mean, seriously -- How do you run an respectable airline and not serve your home city?

Southwest and AirTran only share 19 nonstop destinations, out of 100. AirTran customers get the West (plus no bag fees), Southwest customers get ATL, many east coast/Midwest stops, and the Caribbean.

Also, AirTran was based in Orlando: My link

[editor]

Southwest and AirTran only share 19 nonstop destinations, out of 100. AirTran customers get the West (plus no bag fees), Southwest customers get ATL, many east coast/Midwest stops, and the Caribbean.

Also, AirTran was based in Orlando: My link

You're totally right. I was thinking of ATA. AirTran is the new name for ValueJet (*scree*splurt*glub*glub*glub*) I think I only flew AirTran once -- MDW-ATL. All I remember about it is that it was really cheap.

[urban909]

Now that IAH is supposed to be United's main hub, I would think that the current capacity (ex. shifting their domestic 772's), as far as gate space goes, might be stretched. On a side note, the "new" livery is horrible.

[lockmat]

Now that IAH is supposed to be United's main hub, I would think that the current capacity (ex. shifting their domestic 772's), as far as gate space goes, might be stretched. On a side note, the "new" livery is horrible.

Why do you say that? Isn't it the exact same except for the name?

[VicMan]

I don't see how this benefits anyone. Most of the routes and cities overlap. At least Continental-United was somewhat complimentary.

I used to fly AirTran a lot until it started cutting cities. I think I flew Chicago to Newark six times or more. But the writing was on the wall when AirTran pulled out of Indianapolis.

I mean, seriously -- How do you run an respectable airline and not serve your home city?

The main thing is that Southwest gets access to Atlanta.

[urban909]

Why do you say that? Isn't it the exact same except for the name?

It is, but I was hoping for something a little different. Maybe it's just because it's weird seeing the name "United" on CO's livery. It would have been nice to see a better hybrid blend.

[lockmat]

It is, but I was hoping for something a little different. Maybe it's just because it's weird seeing the name "United" on CO's livery. It would have been nice to see a better hybrid blend.

The "United" letters do seem to be spaced out a little too much.

[mfastx]

The "United" letters do seem to be spaced out a little too much.

I think it looks okay. The United letters are just in the same font as the old United livery.

[Hartmann]

Now that IAH is supposed to be United's main hub, I would think that the current capacity (ex. shifting their domestic 772's), as far as gate space goes, might be stretched. On a side note, the "new" livery is horrible.

I don't think any of the hubs are the main "hub" and if any get more attention it would be ORD, SFO, and EWR before IAH.

The 772s will probably be moved around a bit or they'll completely retrofit them and put them on Europe routes (the domestic 772s don't have the range to do Asia). You'll definitely see some beefing up of the hub-hub routes as they position planes. I would expect 1-2 heavy planes between each hub a day.

I'm interested to see what they do with the p.s. planes. Currently they exclusively operate LAX/SFO-JFK for United but I could see Smisek retrofitting them, basing them out of EWR and expanding service to smaller European markets (bring back CGN, add another TXL flight, etc)

[lockmat]

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid51421175001?bctid=622749542001

[mfastx]

http://link.brightco...id=622749542001

LOL was he wearing that orange tie to try to fit in with the ground crew?

[editor]

You'll definitely see some beefing up of the hub-hub routes as they position planes. I would expect 1-2 heavy planes between each hub a day.

From your mouth to God's ears. Especially considering that the big competition (AA) for the ORD-EWR route is running turboprops! In fact, AA is even bragging on Facebook about using props on routes as long as MSP-LGA! Maybe if CO/UA start running some real jets on this route, AA will have to get its act together.

[scarface]

since continential was the main one responsible for the upgrades at IAH, does that mean IAH won't continue the expansion and upgrade plans?

[TheNiche]

since continential was the main one responsible for the upgrades at IAH, does that mean IAH won't continue the expansion and upgrade plans?

No. IAH is still a critical hub in their system and that won't change.

[Hartmann]

From your mouth to God's ears. Especially considering that the big competition (AA) for the ORD-EWR route is running turboprops! In fact, AA is even bragging on Facebook about using props on routes as long as MSP-LGA! Maybe if CO/UA start running some real jets on this route, AA will have to get its act together.

AA is really becoming a joke in the airline industry. Their business class and first class seats on the long range fleet are some of the worst in the industry and they're brand new (Continental's old recliner seats are on-par if not better). Their route network is a complete mess and they've really ticked off a lot of people in the Caribbean as they've all but abandoned their Puerto Rico hub. Honestly, if they crapped out in the next five years, I wouldn't be surprised.

[asubrt]

A bunch of new routes from IAH were announced today from Continental/United. Starting sometime in 2011...

IAH - Bakersfield, CA (BFL)

IAH - Palm Springs, CA (PSP)

IAH - Reno, NV (RNO)

IAH - Grand Junction, CO (GJT)

IAH - Hobbs, NM (HOB)

IAH - Cedar Rapids, IA (CID)

IAH - Montreal, Canada (YUL)

This is in addition to three new Houston routes announced yesterday...

IAH - Los Angeles (LAX) on American Eagle (April 5)

HOU - Charleston, SC (CHS) on Southwest (March 13)

HOU - Greenville/Spartanburg, SC (GSP) on Southwest (March 13)

[Houston19514]

I don't think any of the hubs are the main "hub" and if any get more attention it would be ORD, SFO, and EWR before IAH.

Why would you think that?

[Hartmann]

Why would you think that?

Which part? If you're referring to the attention part, I can explain that pretty easily.

SFO and EWR have a lot of potential for route switches whereas IAH and IAD have the possibility of route additions (like we've just seen). I see the new United trying to make EWR an international fortress pushing a lot of connection traffic through it. The European bank out of EWR is already huge, there is no reason not to serve some of the smaller Euro markets out of the same airport.

IAD could easily become a reliever hub for EWR.

IAH is great for Latin America but the potential for more European flights is small. We may see IAH-MUC or IAH-MAD but my money is on the combined carrier pushing a lot of European traffic through the east coast hubs. The same is true for SFO. United has a lot of unused slots as does Continental, they're going to leverage that to make it easy to get to Asia.

I imagine there are a few flights to Asia that could be added to IAH, but nothing like what they could do out of SFO.

Plane sharing is supposed to start soon, that'll be interesting to see.

[KinkaidAlum]

The best news about this merger is the introduction of CR7s and E70s to IAH to replace the 50 seat barbie jets on some routes. CR7z and E70s have small first class sections, which frequent flyers love. They are also more roomy than the barbie jets.

Bakersfield, Palm Springs, Montreal, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Tucson, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and a few other markets will see the CR7s and E70s take over for some of the ERjs.

[Hartmann]

The best news about this merger is the introduction of CR7s and E70s to IAH to replace the 50 seat barbie jets on some routes. CR7z and E70s have small first class sections, which frequent flyers love. They are also more roomy than the barbie jets.

Bakersfield, Palm Springs, Montreal, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Tucson, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and a few other markets will see the CR7s and E70s take over for some of the ERjs.

The sad part is that Tuscon, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Atlanta, and El Paso used to see 737s all of the time.

As far as I know, most of the routes you listed have not had E70s or CR7s listed as the equipment. I don't doubt some of them will see the upgrade to slightly better equipment, it's just that it hasn't been announced yet and doesn't show up in the schedules.

The new routes that were announced look like this:

Continental

Cleveland – Cincinnati eff 04JAN11

CO8748 CLE0740 – 0900CVG DH2 D

CO8749 CLE1640 – 1800CVG DH2 x6

CO8666 CLE2035 – 2155CVG DH2 x6

CO8821 CVG0705 – 0820CLE DH2 x7 05JAN11-

CO8789 CVG0920 – 1035CLE DH2 D

CO8788 CVG1820 – 1935CLE DH2 x6

Houston – Bakersfield eff 03APR11 (Operated by UNITED Express – Skywest Aircraft)

CO1171 IAH0940 – 1130BFL CR7 D

CO1172 IAH2045 – 2235BFL CR7 x6

CO1173 BFL0615 – 1145IAH CR7 x7 04APR11-

CO1174 BFL1205 – 1735IAH CR7 D

Houston – Cedar Rapids eff 03MAY11

CO2147 IAH1440 – 1650CID ERJ D

CO2286 IAH1950 – 2200CID ERJ x6

CO2781 CID0700 – 0920IAH ERJ x7

CO2836 CID1720 – 1940IAH ERJ D

Houston – Grand Junction eff 03MAY11

CO2399 IAH0900 – 1040GJT ERJ D

CO2400 IAH1820 – 2000GJT ERJ x6

CO2848 GJT0600 – 0930IAH ERJ x7 04MAY11-

CO3141 GJT1110 – 1440IAH ERJ D

Houston – Hobbs eff 03MAR11 (HOB departure from 04MAR11)

CO2680 IAH1125 – 1157HOB ERJ x236 04MAR11-

CO2776 IAH1800 – 1840HOB ERJ D

CO2601 HOB0700 – 0940IAH ERJ x237

CO2602 HOB1225 – 1450IAH ERJ x6

Houston – Montreal eff 03MAY11 (Operated by UNITED Express – Shuttle America)

CO1282 IAH1300 – 1730YUL E70 D

CO1276 YUL1705 – 2000IAH E70 D

Houston – Palm Springs (Schedule and launch date to be released at later date)

Houston – Reno eff 17FEB11

CO1470 IAH0900 – 1105RNO 738 D

CO1480 RNO1137 – 1659RNO 738 D

Newark – Des Moines eff 03MAY11

CO2823 EWR1900 – 2115DSM ERJ D

CO3123 DSM0715 – 1130EWR ERJ D 04MAY11-

UNITED

Denver – Amarillo eff 03APR11

UA5957 DEN1005 – 1221AMA ER4 D

UA5958 DEN1925 – 2143AMA ER4 D

UA5915 AMA0910 – 0924DEN ER4 D

UA5957 AMA1315 – 1331DEN ER4 D

Denver – Dallas Love Field eff 03APR11

UA5985 DEN0910 – 1208DAL ER4 D

UA5993 DEN1620 – 1918DAL ER4 D

UA6057 DAL0940 – 1034DEN ER4 D

UA6017 DAL1950 – 2044DEN ER4 D

Denver – Lubbock eff 03APR11 (This route was left out in previous blog post)

UA5903 DEN1405 – 1634LBB ER4 D

UA6020 DEN1925 – 2156LBB ER4 D

UA6064 LBB0855 – 0921DEN ER4 D

UA5903 LBB1715 – 1743DEN ER4 D

Los Angeles – Austin eff 06MAR11

UA6732 LAX1045 – 1536AUS CR7 D

UA6888 LAX1840 – 2331AUS CR7 D

UA6712 AUS0633 – 0755LAX CR7 D

UA6732 AUS1607 – 1729LAX CR7 D

San Francisco – New Orleans eff 06MAR11

UA136 SFO1610 – 2218MSY 319 D

UA497 MSY0700 – 0947SFO 319 D

Washington Dulles – Grand Cayman (Subject to Government Approval, schedule and launch date not available)

Washington Dulles – Louisville eff 03APR11

UA5930 IAD1715 – 1852SDF ER4 D

UA5930 SDF1415 – 1549IAD ER4 D

Washington Dulles – Minneapolis eff 03APR11 (Service relaunch)

UA7515 IAD0830 – 1016MSP E70 D

UA7569 IAD1700 – 1846MSP E70 D

UA7515 MSP1230 – 1554IAD E70 D

UA7566 MSP1730 – 2054IAD E70 D

Washington Dulles – Salt Lake City eff 03APR11

UA177 IAD1850 – 2125SLC 319 D

UA659 SLC0750 – 1357IAD 319 D

Washington Dulles – Tulsa eff 03APR11

UA6557 IAD1850 – 2039TUL CR7 D

UA6984 TUL1215 – 1551IAD CR7 D

[KinkaidAlum]

Check in January. That is when some of the upgrades begin to places like GRR, OKC, TUC, and ATL. By the way, the CR7s and E70s aren't replacing the few 737s that still serve places like Tucson, El Paso, and Atlanta but rather they are replacing some of the ERJs.

[Hartmann]

Check in January. That is when some of the upgrades begin to places like GRR, OKC, TUC, and ATL. By the way, the CR7s and E70s aren't replacing the few 737s that still serve places like Tucson, El Paso, and Atlanta but rather they are replacing some of the ERJs.

I'll be watching for it.

My guess is that the next big announcement will involve plane swapping on some of the international routes. I could see them putting a 744 on EWR-NRT and changing up a few other routes.