June 12, 2008, 11:49AM
Continental cuts 8% of capacity out of Houston
By BILL HENSEL JR.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Continental Airlines will cut capacity by almost 8 percent in Houston and eliminate 12 destinations out of Bush Intercontinental Airport, including Washington-Dulles and Reno, Nev.
The carrier is also stopping service from Houston to Chattanooga, Tenn.; Hartford, Conn.; Montgomery, Ala.; Oakland, Calif.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Sarasota, Fla. and Tallahassee, Fla. International destinations that will no longer be available from Houston are Cali, Colombia; Guayaquil, Ecuador and Monclova, Mexico.
The airline will continue to serve Washington from Houston through Reagan National Airport.
Continental is reducing capacity out of its Cleveland hub by 13 percent, but only trimming service out of its Newark, N.J., hub by 3 percent.
Houston-based Continental recently announced it will shed 3,000 jobs as it fights to combat skyrocketing fuel prices. The service cuts announced today represent an 11 percent decline in domestic mainline capacity.
The changes take effect Sept. 3.
"These actions are among the many difficult steps Continental is taking to respond to record-high fuel prices that are creating unprecedented challenges for the airline industry," the carrier said in a memo to employees.
Continental also is pulling out of 15 destinations entirely: Oakland, Palm Springs, Chattanooga, Reno, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Montgomery, Toledo, Ohio; and Green Bay, Wisc. domestically, and Bali, Indonesia; Cologne, Germany; Santiago, Dominican Republic, Guayaquil and Monclova internationally.
The Continental release didn't specify capacity reductions on routes that are not being eliminated.
Customers who are currently booked on flights that no longer will exist after Sept. 3 will be contacted by Continental so they can make new arrangements.
(LINK -
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5833286.html)
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