Editing Continental Airlines (section)

===1970s===
At Six's insistence, Continental (with [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] and [[Trans World Airlines]]) was one of the three launch airlines for the [[Boeing 747]]. On June 26, 1970, Continental became the second carrier (after TWA) to put the 747 into U.S. domestic service. Its upper-deck first class lounge and main deck "Polynesian Pub" won awards worldwide for the most refined cabin interior among all airlines, as did meal services developed by Continental's Cordon Bleu-trained executive chef, Lucien DeKeyser.<ref name="Scott" /> Continental's 747 services from Chicago and Denver to Los Angeles and Honolulu set the standard for service in the western U.S.<ref name="Serling" /><ref name="Scott" /> On June 1, 1972, Continental's widebody [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10|DC-10]] service began. Six had insisted that Continental place a large order for DC-10s with manufacturer [[McDonnell Douglas]]. This decision again proved prescient, since the publicity associated with Continental's splashy 747 service Chicago-Denver-Los Angeles-Honolulu had stimulated increased market share and increased traffic for all carriers. Denver, Houston and Seattle were growing rapidly in the 1970s; the DC-10s took over most flights between Denver and Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Seattle, and between Houston and Los Angeles.<ref name="Serling" /><ref name="Scott" />

[[File:Boeing 727-224 N32718 CO ORD 19.02.78 edited-3.jpg|thumb|right|[[Boeing 727|Boeing 727-224]] at [[Chicago O'Hare Airport]] in 1978]]
During the 1970s, Denver served as the airline's main hub. The 747s were focused on the Chicago-Los Angeles-Honolulu routes, with one daily round trip through Denver. The DC-10s served large markets (Los Angeles to Chicago, Denver, Houston and Honolulu; and from Denver to Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Houston). DC-9s and 727s predominated elsewhere and added frequencies on DC-10 routes.<ref name="Scott" /> Next to [[Braniff]], Continental operated fewer aircraft types (four: the 747, DC-10, 727-200, and [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9|DC-9-10]]) during this period than any U.S. trunkline, affording savings in parts, maintenance, and crew training.<ref name="Scott" /> The DC-10 enabled the airline to capitalize on traffic growth in the west. Continental saw market share grow annually in each DC-10 market through the 1970s, until relative market parity was achieved with United, the principal competitor on most of the DC-10 routes. The same innovations introduced on the 747s appeared on Continental's DC-10s, including the "Polynesian Pub", but after the [[1973 oil crisis]] more seats were needed and the DC-10 pubs were removed.<ref name="Scott" /> Continental phased out its 747s in 1978 in favor of the DC-10s (747s would return to Continental during the Lorenzo era, flying Newark to London and Paris). From the mid-1970s until it merged with Texas International, Continental operated only DC-10s, 727-100s, and 727-200s.

From 1961 to 1982, Continental was headquartered at the west end of the [[Los Angeles International Airport]] on World Way West. The facility included the general offices, system operations control, the central maintenance facility, flight kitchen, and Los Angeles crew bases.<ref name="Serling" /><ref name="Scott" />{{Page needed|date=August 2010}}<ref>''World Airline Directory''. Flight International. March 20, 1975.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%200546.html 482] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303073909/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%200546.html |date=March 3, 2012 }}.</ref>

[[File:Continental 747., Los Angeles, 1987.jpg|thumb|Continental [[Boeing 747]] at Los Angeles in 1987]]
In 1974, after years of delays and legal proceedings, Continental started flights between Houston and Miami, and on May 21, 1976, Continental was authorized to operate long-sought routes between San Diego and Denver. President [[Jimmy Carter]] and Civil Aeronautics Board chairman [[Alfred E. Kahn|Alfred Kahn]] had been promoting deregulation of the airline industry, which would dissolve the CAB and for the first time in industry history allow U.S. carriers to determine without government supervision where they would fly, and how much they could charge. Continental began flights from Denver to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa/St. Petersburg in Florida. That year, President Carter authorized Continental to begin daily round trips between [[Air Micronesia]] destination [[Saipan]] and Japan, and approved a route for Continental from Los Angeles to Australia via [[Honolulu]], [[American Samoa]], Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. The South Pacific service began May 1, 1979.<ref name="Davies" /><ref name="Scott" />{{Page needed|date=August 2010}} After the 1978 passage of the [[Airline Deregulation Act]] Continental embarked on a route expansion. October 1978 saw Continental begin flights from the New York area airports to Houston and Denver, and from Denver to [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]].<ref name="Scott" /> That month Continental started DC-10 flights between Los Angeles and [[Taipei]], via Honolulu and [[Guam]]. Service between Houston and Washington, D.C., began in January 1979. In June 1979 Continental linked Denver with Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, San Francisco and San Jose and also began Houston-Tampa service.<ref name="Scott" /> The airline suffered in 1979 when the DC-10 was grounded nationwide following the crash of [[American Airlines Flight 191]]. Continental Airlines only operated the DC-10 and the 727 at the time, so flights to Hawaii were cancelled during the grounding. By the time of the Texas Air Corp. acquisition in 1981, Continental's post-deregulation growth had allowed it to penetrate every major U.S. airline market (and all of the regional markets) from the hubs in Denver and Houston, with the corresponding expansion of facilities at both of these airports. But that growth came at the cost of continuing losses. In Denver, Continental's rapid growth provided the final impetus for the construction of the new [[Denver International Airport]], which would be completed almost fifteen years later.<ref name="Davies" /><ref name="Scott" />{{Page needed|date=August 2010}}

[[File:Continental Airlines DC-10-10 N68042.jpg|thumb|left|Continental DC-10 at Narita Airport, Japan]]
While deregulation allowed Continental to expand into new areas, it hurt the company's existing business as consumers were for the first time able to choose lower fares over Continental's better service. In 1978 Continental and [[Western Airlines]], which held a nearby headquarters and similar fleet, began a nearly three-year attempt to merge.<ref name="Scott" /> [[File:Continental DC-10 model from Western merger.jpg|thumb|DC-10 model used in announcement of planned Continental–Western merger]]  The route systems would have been complementary, with little overlap; although they both served the Western states, Continental had strength in Hawaii, southern-tier and the [[Great Plains]] states; Western's strengths were in the California intrastate market, Alaska, Mexico, and the [[Intermountain West]]. Both airlines served the [[Pacific Northwest]] and [[Rocky Mountain]] states, but along different routes from Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix. The merger attempt failed when Texas Air Corporation interceded with its acquisition of Continental.<ref name="Davies" /><ref name="Scott" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Barrett|first=William|date=March 1987|title=Top Gun: Frank Lorenzo Aced the Competition, But Can His Airline Stay Number One?|work=Texas Monthly|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/top-gun/|access-date=August 19, 2020|archive-date=August 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812154747/https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/top-gun/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=March 4, 1981|title=Texas International asks Continental shareholders for proxie.|work=United Press International|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/04/Texas-International-asks-Continental-shareholders-for-proxie/6991352530000/|access-date=August 19, 2020|archive-date=September 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916155418/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/04/Texas-International-asks-Continental-shareholders-for-proxie/6991352530000/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Whitkin|first=Richard|date=March 4, 1981|title=Texas Air Bids to Get Continental|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/10/business/texas-air-bids-to-get-continental.html|access-date=August 23, 2020|archive-date=April 21, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421205916/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/10/business/texas-air-bids-to-get-continental.html|url-status=live}}</ref> With the Airline Deregulation Act the world changed for Continental as noted by Smithsonian historian R.E.G. Davies: "Unfortunately, the policies that had been successful for more than forty years under (Robert) Six's cavalier style of management were suddenly laid bare as the cold winds of airline deregulation changed all the rules -- specifically, the balance between revenues and expenditures."<ref name=":1" />