JosephJarvis From UK - England, joined Apr 2011, 131 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 6341 times:
Hi everyone,
Continental Airlines has now merged with United Airlines and become one airline. They will be missed. Its a good thing they kept the globe tail design though as it never gets boring.
I remember when Continental used to operate services to LGW years ago and I am particularly interested in their 777 routes from LGW. I have seen various photographs between 1999 and 2004 of Continental 777s at London Gatwick, sometimes seeing three 777s parked along side each other at Gatwick's South Terminal Main Pier.
I see two 777s, sometimes three 777s in some photographs at LGW between 1999 and 2004, and in other shots I see other Continental aircraft such as 767-400s and 767-200s.
My question is did they operate the same number of flights per day and were they all operated using Boeing 777s or did they use different aircraft as well?
Also, presumabably they had 3 777 services on some days, maybe more. Does anyone know how many 777 services they had on a typical day at London Gatwick and whether all their LGW services were operated using 777s or not? Also what time the aircraft arrived and departed at LGW, as it appears some of their aircraft were there for quite some time?
Wondered if anyone could help me with any of this please?
staralliance85 From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 165 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 5431 times:
For many years the DC10 was CO's main product. Then in 1999 they did a 777 and a DC10 combo to LGW. Right after 9/11, they retired the DC10 from that route.
readytotaxi From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 2596 posts, RR: 3 Reply 6, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 5401 times:
Quoting klwright69 (Reply 4): And DEN-LGW was a DC10 for many, many, many years.
Ahhhh, I did this route twice on the way to LAX and once got upgraded to First from Business, that's when CO did international First. Remember they carved the meat at your seat at dinner. Also experienced a 767 from EWR into LGW.
Really good old days.
you don't get a second chance to make a first impression!
I guess that CO inaugurated their LGW service from DEN - in the beginning of the 1980s with DC-10-30s (was not able to find any prove for that though)...
The pic above shows a People Express 747 next to a CO DC-10. I assume CO only flew to EWR after taking over People Express in 1987?
I always liked the DC-10s of Continental, and I have also liked their globe-livery a lot. DC-10s were the aicraft that were used in their massive European expansion in the late 90s,
here a pic from LGW from April 1996 (when there was still the dearly missed spectators' terrace)...
PI767 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 4128 times:
Quoting HBIHLtoEZE (Reply 7): I guess that CO inaugurated their LGW service from DEN - in the beginning of the 1980s with DC-10-30s (was not able to find any prove for that though)...
The pic above shows a People Express 747 next to a CO DC-10. I assume CO only flew to EWR after taking over People Express in 1987?
Continental's first service to Gatwick began in the April or May of 1985 with a single nonstop-roundtrip to Houston Intercontinental.
Continental's Newark service was, as you stated, a result of The People Express acquisition. People Express began the route on May 26, 1983 and it became a Continental route effective February 1, 1987.
The Denver route followed, beginning as a 4x weekly flight on June 14, 1987.
Viscount630 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2005, 223 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 3951 times:
Quoting HBIHLtoEZE (Reply 7): I guess that CO inaugurated their LGW service from DEN - in the beginning of the 1980s with DC-10-30s (was not able to find any prove for that though)...
The original DEN-LGW was a Western DC-10 service - it didn't last very long. CO became a LGW operator when they took over PeoplExpress and their EWR route. They built up the LGW operation from there, adding other CO cities.
CODC10 From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 2167 posts, RR: 8 Reply 12, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 3274 times:
TCASAlert From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 3158 times:
I remember these times very well (well I should do as it was only a few years ago ), the only American carriers at LHR were UA and AA. To get your fix of DL, US, CO and NW you had to head down to LGW. For many years the airlines campaigned to get Bermuda II removed so that the other carriers could fly from LHR. This also meant that certain destinations in the US could only be served from LGW.
Openskies finally put an end to that mess a few years ago, and finally all airlines can operate with full competition from LHR.
Thanks for the info, thats excellent. That's quite a long time for Continental Airlines to keep some of their aircraft on the ground at LGW. It can't of been that cheap for them to do this on a daily basis?
STT757 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 16255 posts, RR: 52 Reply 16, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 2484 times:
CO took over the MIA-LGW route from Eastern around '87. EA acquired some DC-10s from AZ to launch MIA-LGW and MIA-MAD, they launched LGW but not MAD. Later when they transferred the route to CO Eastern used those DC-10s to first operate MIA-EZE-SCL and later MIA-GIG-EZE.
CO sold the MIA-London authorities to AA around the time they purchased EA's Latin America operations.
AeroWesty From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 18832 posts, RR: 64 Reply 17, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 5 days ago) and read 2442 times:
A few bits of trivia. CO 34/35 was part of one of the first modern-day codeshares between airlines of different countries. By the time I started flying this route in 1988, CO35 originated in AMS as a flight on a regularly scheduled Transavia 737-200, complete with a row of Business Class configured 2x2, and offered a complete hot meal in J, sandwiches in a lunch bag in Y. Same with CO34, it terminated in AMS on the turnaround of the codeshared Transavia flight.
When the DC-10 continued to LAX or HNL from DEN, CO would give out new boarding passes in the customs area when rechecking bags. The cardstock for LGW-DEN said Continental International, while the BPs at DEN said Continental Micronesia.
Quoting JosephJarvis (Reply 15): It can't of been that cheap for them to do this on a daily basis?
As was pointed out in the other thread, the cost to park a plane at a gate for a few hours is highly exaggerated on a.net. Some airports even include a set number of hours of parking in with the landing fee.
COIAHLGW From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 154 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 2166 times:
Who uses the check-in area at LGW South Terminal where CO used to be - the one where you had to take a ramp going to a lower level? Also, did anybody take over the PC that was at LGW South?
JosephJarvis From UK - England, joined Apr 2011, 131 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (1 year 5 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 1461 times:
It seems that Newark was served by Continental from Gatwick twice daily with both services using 777s, but also a 777 and a 767-200 or 767-400. It seems the morning Newark service was always operated by a 777, but the afternoon service was operated by a 777 or a 767. I have been taking a look through the LGW-LHR Archive website and many flight logs between 1999 and 2004 show that the afternoon CO19 LGW-EWR service using a 777 departed significantly earlier than when it was operated by a 767. The logs show the 777 operating the route always departed around 13:15-13:30pm, whereas the logs show the 767 departed around 15:00-15:30pm, sometimes even as late as 16:15! I have seen various photos of Continental 767-200s and 767-400s parked at a remote stand at Gatwick but never a 777. Also other photos indicate the 767 left quite late in the day as it is shown being towed onto stand at the South Terminal when most other North American traffic had departed.
Continental Airlines has now merged with United Airlines and become one airline. They will be missed. Its a good thing they kept the globe tail design though as it never gets boring.
You must not see it alot, it gets down right lame! wish they would have come up with a new paint scheme when the two merged. I hear people call the globe on the tail, the Death Star! or a sewer grate.
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), the only American carriers at LHR were UA and AA. To get your fix of DL, US, CO and NW you had to head down to LGW. For many years the airlines campaigned to get Bermuda II removed so that the other carriers could fly from LHR. This also meant that certain destinations in the US could only be served from LGW.
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