Continental, US Airways in talks on alliance

[dbaker]

Continental, US Airways in talks on alliance

NEW YORK, May 23 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL - News) and US Airways (NYSE:U - News) have discussed forming a code-sharing alliance to boost revenues, but such a deal only addresses part of the many problems facing the airline industry, Continental's top executive said on Thursday.

I find this approach very interesting since east coast coverage is hardly a place where I'd cite weakness in Continental's route map. With hubs in EWR and CLE, it seems pretty much under control. Not that I'm complaining, but this should be interesting.

Perhaps with this agreement, I could fly AUS-IAH-CLT-AHN instead of AUS-IAH-ATL and driving to AHN.

[dbaker]

Continental, US Airways in code-sharing talks

NEW YORK, May 23 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL - News) and US Airways (NYSE:U - News) have discussed forming a flight code-sharing deal to boost revenues, but such a deal only addresses a fraction of the slew of problems facing the airline industry, Continental's top executive said on Thursday.

"Winning in this business right now is not making the most but losing the least," said Bethune, who had hoped Houston-based Continental, the No. 5 U.S. airline, would be reporting profits by this time but now predicts it will take until next year.

"We've had a number of talks with US Airways, and I think they've been fruitful talks," Bethune told reporters following a meeting with analysts on Thursday. Bethune, who is close with US Airways' new CEO, David Siegel, would not specify what stage the talks had reached, or whether Continental had been designated as US Airways' preferred partner.