Virus - Airliners Cutting Services to Mexico

Continental Airlines Inc., the biggest U.S. carrier to Mexico, said it will cut by half the number of seats it sells to fly to Mexico beginning Monday. The Houston-based airline said it will work with travelers to get them where they need to go, although schedules and routes might change.

US Airways Group Inc., another major U.S. carrier to Mexico, said it would reduce its May and June departures to Mexico by 38 percent, beginning May 10.

Delta Air Lines Inc. also said it would reduce its Mexico service to match declining demand, but it didn't indicate how deep the cuts would be.

UAL Corp.'s United Airlines said it will cut its weekly flights to Mexico from 61 to 24 this month, beginning on Tuesday. Its June schedule will drop from 90 flights per week to 52. United said Mexico represents less than 2 percent of its overall capacity.

Southwest Airlines Co. doesn't fly to Mexico, but its chief executive said bookings within the U.S. may have softened in the past week in response to concern about flying.

"It's having an effect on air travel," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly told The Associated Press. "The bookings this week have been erratic at best ... it does seem like we're off-trend, and I just wouldn't be surprised at all if we find that our traffic is impacted over the next couple of weeks because of this concern."

Kelly didn't provide any numbers, but he said that as schools close -- Fort Worth became the first large U.S. district to shut all its campuses -- and large public events around the country are canceled to avoid spreading the virus, air traffic could fall.

Continental said it will reduce May flights to Mexico by about 40 percent and use smaller planes but will continue flying to all 29 Mexican cities it serves. It also extended its waiver policy to let customers with trips booked for Mexico change itineraries without penalty by the end of May.

Continental was running an average of 450 flights a week to Mexico, and the changes will cut its expected May capacity about 2 percent.

"We were already experiencing soft market conditions due to the economy, and now our Mexico routes in particular have extra weakness," said Larry Kellner, Continental's chairman and CEO.

US Airways said it would reduce its schedule by cutting the number of flights and by flying smaller planes, but that it wouldn't pull out of any Mexican cities altogether.

It also said it would reevaluate its July and August schedule in the next few weeks. It said it hopes to resume its normal schedule of flights to Mexico on July 2.

US Airways said the planned reductions amount to 0.5 percent of its systemwide departures.

Jim Corridore, an analyst for Standard & Poor's, said the reductions are an insignificant part of Continental's total capacity and revenue, and it's an even smaller problem for other airlines.

"If the main concern stays focused on Mexico, swine flu shouldn't have a big impact on the U.S. airline industry," he said. "I would expect that this would be a short-term issue."

Delta officials said they were reducing flight frequencies and switching to smaller jets on some flights to pare capacity to Mexico while still serving 11 Mexican cities. Atlanta-based Delta, which also operates Northwest Airlines, runs 350 flights a week to Mexico.

AirTran Airways, which operates only 16 weekly flights to the resort town of Cancun, will cut two of those flights. Spokesman Christopher White said the decision was based on demand over the past several weeks, not just since the flu epidemic hit.

JetBlue Airways Corp. canceled about a dozen flights over the next month to Cancun because they weren't full enough, said spokesman Bryan Baldwin.

American Airlines was monitoring travel demand to Mexico but hadn't canceled any flights by late afternoon, said spokesman Tim Smith. AMR Corp.'s American is the second-biggest U.S. carrier to Mexico.

Health authorities have confirmed 15 swine-flu deaths in Mexico and one in the U.S., a toddler from Mexico who died this week in Houston. There are more than 500 confirmed cases worldwide, including more than 300 in Mexico and more than 100 in the U.S.

A United Airlines ramp worker in Denver was among those confirmed with swine flu, said airline spokesman Rahsaan Johnson. The man last worked on April 23, and reported getting sick after that, Johnson said. There's been no indication that any of the man's co-workers have fallen ill, he said.

"We're all very happy that he is well. He is out of the hospital and recovering. We are looking forward to welcoming him back to work," Johnson said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised against nonessential travel to Mexico, and European Union officials advised their citizens to postpone nonessential travel to parts of Mexico and the U.S. affected by swine flu.

A check by The Associated Press on Wednesday showed that some flights from the United States to Mexico had an unusually high number of empty seats. Flights heading north appeared to be fuller.

After a flap this week over comments by Vice President Joe Biden, who said he told family members to avoid airplanes, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood declared that air travel was safe and there was no reason to cancel flights.

Kelly, the CEO of Dallas-based Southwest, said air travel is safe but that his airline had instructed employees to be vigilant about washing hands, sanitizing aircraft and looking out for fellow workers or passengers who appeared ill.

Anyone who looks ill will be given a paper mask to wear during the flight, he said.

Alaska Airlines said it was removing pillows and blankets from all of its 114 planes, and would disinfect and sanitize all of its planes during overnight maintenance. It said crews were also doing an extra interior cleaning of planes arriving from Mexico in between flights.

Sabre, a major airline reservation and ticket-distribution company, said other than a decline in trips to Mexico, travel within the United States and to other parts of the world appeared to be holding steady

Continental Airlines Seasonal Service

Continental Airlines is launching seasonal daily non-stop service between its Cleveland hub and London's Heathrow Airport, effective May 2, 2009 (eastbound). The new route replaces the previous seasonal service between Cleveland and London/Gatwick Airport.

"The new flights give Cleveland travelers convenient access to Europe's most popular gateway airport for U.S. travelers," said Jim Compton, Continental's executive vice president marketing. "In addition to serving London, Heathrow will provide both business and leisure travelers numerous connections to cities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa."

The new Heathrow service will operate from May 2 through Sept. 26 (eastbound). Flights will depart Cleveland daily at 8:25 p.m. and arrive in London at 9:15 a.m. the next morning. The return flights will depart London daily at 11:40 a.m. and arrive in Cleveland at 3:30 p.m. the same day.

The service will be operated by Boeing 757 aircraft, seating 16 passengers in the award-winning BusinessFirst cabin and 159 passengers in economy.

Continental will continue to operate two daily flights to Heathrow from its Houston hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport in addition to three daily flights to Heathrow from its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport.

In addition to its Heathrow flights, Continental also operates easy connecting service from Cleveland through Newark Liberty to Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester, as well as Dublin and Shannon - offering trans-Atlantic service to more cities in the U.K. and Ireland than any other airline.

Continental Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline. Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 2,750 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 133 domestic and 132 international destinations. More than 750 additional points are served via current alliance partners. With more than 43,000 employees, Continental has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and together with its regional partners, carries approximately 67 million passengers per year.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Continental consistently earns awards and critical acclaim for both its operation and its corporate culture. For the sixth consecutive year, FORTUNE magazine named Continental the No. 1 World's Most Admired Airline on its 2009 list of World's Most Admired Companies. For more company information, go to continental.com.

Great Escape of Continental Airlines Flight 1404 at Denver

It was a miracle that no one was killed when an airliner veered sharply off a runway during takeoff, burst into flames and nearly broke apart, firefighters said Sunday.

There was no official word on the possible cause of the crash of Continental Flight 1404 at Denver International Airport, which injured 38 people. Flight data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered and appeared to be in good condition, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.

The weather was clear but cold when the plane attempted to take off for Houston around 6:20 p.m. Saturday. Winds at the airport were 31 mph, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

"No other aircraft opted against taking off due to wind" before Flight 1404 tried to lift off, Gregor said.

The entire right side of the Boeing 737-500 was burned in the Saturday evening accident, and melted plastic from overhead compartments dripped onto the seats. Investigators said the plane's left engine was ripped away along with all the landing gear.

Continental Airlines Reduces the Size of the Bag Allowed On-Board

Beginning Nov. 1, Continental Airlines Inc. will reduce the maximum size allowed for carry-ons to 45 linear inches — the sum of the bag's length, width and height — down from 51 inches.

Continental spokeswoman Julie King said the change is being made to align policies of the Houston-based airline with those of its alliance partner airlines, including Delta, Northwest and Air France-KLM.

Passengers sometimes book a single ticket that involves travel on Continental and one of its partner airlines, which means currently customers could carry the bag on one leg of a trip but be forced to check it on the next.

King said there was no link between the change in carry-on policy and Continental's recent decision to charge customers $15 for checking a first bag.

Besides Continental's partners, many other so-called legacy airlines have a 45-inch limit on carry-ons, including American Airlines.

But AirTran lets 55-inch bags aboard, US Airways and Alaska Airlines allow 51-inch bags, Southwest sets the limit at 50 inches, and Frontier Airlines allows 49 inches.