News Release
Continental Airlines Announces Non-Stop Services Between New York/Newark and Two More European Cities: Zurich, Switzerland and Brussels, Belgium
NEWARK, N.J., September 17, 1998 -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAI.B and CAI.A) today announced it will launch daily non-stop service between New York/Newark and both Zurich, Switzerland and Brussels, Belgium in Spring 1999. The Zurich service will begin on April 14 and the Brussels flights will start on May 3. These will be the 14th and 15th European destinations served by Continental.
Flights to Zurich will depart Newark at 6:50 p.m. and arrive in Zurich at 8:40 a.m. the following day. Flights to Newark will depart Zurich at 11:10 a.m. and arrive in Newark at 2:00 p.m. The flight time will be approximately 8 hours and 30 minutes. Continental will operate a 242-seat DC-10-30 aircraft on the route.
Brussels flights will depart Newark at 6:45 p.m. and arrive in Brussels at 7:50 a.m. the following day. Flights to Newark will depart Brussels at 9:45 a.m. and arrive in Newark at noon. The flight time will be approximately 7 hours and 30 minutes. Continental will operate a 172-seat Boeing 757 aircraft on the route.
Continental's award-winning BusinessFirst service will be available on both of the new routes.
"These new services will build upon Newark's position as a premier transatlantic hub and gateway to Europe," said Barry Simon, Continental's senior vice president, International. "The Zurich service is a direct response to demand from our major corporate customers, particularly in the New York/New Jersey region, for non-stop service to one of Europe's leading banking and pharmaceutical centers. Similarly, our Brussels service will link America's financial center with Europe's administrative capital. Both Zurich and Brussels are also important jumping-off points for leisure travelers visiting Europe."
Continental Airlines (http://www.flycontinental.com), the world's sixth largest airline, operates more than 2,000 flights daily to 125 U.S. and 67 international destinations. In Europe, Continental is the second-largest U.S. carrier in terms of number of cities served, operating 133 departures weekly from 13 cities in seven European countries to its U.S. gateway hubs at New York/Newark and Houston, with onward connections to cities throughout the U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Asia- Pacific. Continental won the Gold Award for Top Airline to North America in the 1998 European Travel Awards, presented by Travel Trade Gazette Europa. Continental's alliance partners in Europe include Air France, Alitalia, British Midland, Transavia, CSA Czech Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Continental has entered into a strategic global alliance with Northwest Airlines that will result in interconnection of the two airlines' route systems, code-sharing arrangements, frequent flyer reciprocity, cooperation between Continental and Northwest's trans-Atlantic partner KLM, and other cooperative activities, subject to government approval.