Simairlinenet From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 813 posts, RR: 2 Posted (6 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 1790 times:
Hello,
I'm wondering what year it was that Continental changed their livery in the 1980s from the black meatball to the red meatball. The earliest photo I can find on Airliners.net with the red meatball is 1984. Is this correct, or would it have been in 1982 when Lorenzo took over?
IAH777 From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 0 posts, RR: 5 Reply 1, posted (6 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 1624 times:
The red ball is the "scab" ball to CO employees around prior to bankruptcy and liquidation in late 1983, IIRC. I'm sure others have better/more information than I, but I know the red ball is a sore subject for those effected by Lorenzo's antics.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21488 posts, RR: 24 Reply 2, posted (6 years 1 month 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 1624 times:
Quoting Simairlinenet (Thread starter): earliest photo I can find on Airliners.net with the red meatball is 1984.
I can't find any references to an official date for that change but maybe someone with CO background will know. Like you, the oldest A.net photo I can find with the red meatball is the following dated March 1984:
WesternA318 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 5395 posts, RR: 25 Reply 3, posted (6 years 1 month 2 weeks 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1452 times:
From what I remember reading, the red meatball came out after CO's first trip through bankruptcy court. I guess Lorenzo was too cheap for a complete makeover, so they just swapped clors on the meatball. To me it reminds me of CO's financial bleeding of those days. Kinda like the abomination the new DL scheme is turning out to be.
Woohoo! Back to Beirut in Oct '13! (Along with a stop in DOH for 4 days)
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From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 813 posts, 
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