Why did Continental evaluate merging with another airline or changing its alliance affiliation?
As we have been saying consistently, the industry around Continental is changing — which it is with the merger of Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines and with the significant rise in the price of fuel combined with a weak dollar and a “soft” U.S. economy. Continental needed to make changes to its business plan to react to the changing industry. We have taken the difficult step to reduce the size of the airline as current economic conditions warrant, and we believe the planned re-orientation of alliances is a further step to ensure the competitiveness of Continental.
