Continental's Last Day: 16 Photos of Their Fantastic 76 Year Run

[NYCA News]

NYCAviation:

16 Photos of Continental’s Fantastic 76 Year Run

A photographic look back at the 76 years of Continental, which will cease to exist on Friday, October 1st.
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[sporky]

Really Oct 1st? That seems like it is way too quick. Didn't the DL/NW merger take a year or so to fully get done?

-Tad

[Alex T]

Really Oct 1st? That seems like it is way too quick. Didn't the DL/NW merger take a year or so to fully get done?

-Tad

If I recall, April 19th, 2008 is when DL/NW announced to merge, and the merger closed October 29th, 2008. So exactly 6 months later NW was done after the announcement. Then SOC occurred Dec 31st, 2009 for DL/NW I believe.

So to CLOSE the merger it doesn't take "too long". However to become SOC takes a bit, in DL's case, a little over 1 year and a half, from April 2008 (announcement) to December of 2009 (SOC was combined).

So for UA/CO, May 2nd, 2010 is when UA/CO announced to join together, and now October 1st is when UA/CO are combined, so literally almost exactly 5 months later, about the same time. SOC for UA/CO won't occur for a bit however.

Alex

[sporky]

Ah ok, guess I got confused between the merger close and SOC occurring. Thanks for the clarification Alex!

-Tad

[JHNA57]

Here is another tribute which I think is pretty well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgLFSSARoJA

It reminds me of when they started service to Newark, I made it a point to drive out there just so I could get a glimpse of "the Proud Bird with the Golden Tail"

[FlyingColors]

The true era of "The Proud Bird with the Golden Tail" was well before CO became a stable at EWR. I'm fortunate to get a picture of a strange visitor in 1975 of a Continental 727-100 at EWR. They would have sporatice service back then and shared a single gate with Piedmont in Terminal A.

Continental's origional fleet of 747s and DC-10s were the most luxurious ever in service.