CAL President: Consolidation not the anwer for air industry

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Continental Air President: Consolidation Not Answer For Industry

PHOENIX -(Dow Jones)- Consolidation is not the cure for what ails the country's airline industry, the president of Continental Airlines Inc. said Wednesday at the International Aviation Symposium here.

"I don't think consolidation is the answer. We haven't seen consolidation bring good results (in the past)," said Continental's Larry Kellner.

Harvard Law School Professor and former airline executive Michael Levine agreed consolidation isn't the panacea that some others in the industry seem to believe it is.

"Those dreaming about it are dreaming about an easier life than they're going to be facing," said Levine, who worked as executive vice president at Continental and Northwest Airlines (NasdaqNM: NWAC - News) Corp. and was president and chief executive of New York Air. He recently retired from Northwest.

"Airline consolidation is rarely a successful way to reduce capacity and costs," he said.