Jackbr From Australia, joined Dec 2009, 652 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 months ago) and read 10136 times:
Throughout the 80s and early 90s CO served SYD and MEL with DC-10s and 747s. What routes did they operate? I assume they continued onto LAX from HNL, possibly including a stop in NAN on the first sector?
And when did they switch from the DC-10 to the 747?
jfk777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 7410 posts, RR: 7 Reply 2, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 10007 times:
Continetal flew to Australia primarily via HNL but also via Tahiti and Fiji. CO got a fleet of DC-10-30 for the flights, 747 came a bit later when CO merged with People's Express. The 747 were rotated around the long haul fleet and flew with the DC-10's to Austrlia but didn't replace them. When Continenal declared Chapter 22 Bankruptcy in the early 1990's they stopped flying to Aussie since they didn't have nonstops from LAX to SYD as Qantas and United did.
Citationjet From United States of America, joined Mar 2003, 2249 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 9983 times:
Flyingsottsman From Australia, joined Oct 2010, 396 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 9886 times:
They flew to Sydney first in the very early 80s then taged Melbourne on to that Sydney flight, I think the flight was LAX/HNL/SYD/MEL then they delinked Melbourne from the Sydney flight and flew MEL/AKL//HNL/LAX and SYD/AKL/HNL/LAX. Thought out the 80s and 90s right up till they stopped serving Australia they used both the DC-10-30s and the 742 then in late 1992 they stopped serving Australia altogether which was a shame because their service was great I did a MEL/AKL/HNL/LAX flight back in 92, leaving LA we was 2 hours late leaving and missed our connecting flight to MEL and had an 8 hour stay in Honolulu put up in a nice hotel and a great tour around Honolulu. That night 2 CO flights heading out to Australia the MEL flight was going via Auckalnd using a DC-10-30 while the Sydney flight was a 742. Its strange seeing the globe livery back at MEL with UA titles on it. I Miss the tulip blue livery that was UA best livery ever but miss Continental the airline aswell.
Most of the flights originated on The US West coast, however they did have direct service from JFK to SYD-MEL from the mid '80s to the late '80s via HNL.
EWRCabincrew From United States of America, joined May 2006, 5522 posts, RR: 57 Reply 8, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 9553 times:
WTXJET From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 23 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 8229 times:
Don't forget the LAX-PPT-AKL. This was flown I know in 1987 and I don't remember the end date. If my memory is correct, it was served only a few times per week. I don't remember if this flew onto MEL or SYD.
EWRCabincrew From United States of America, joined May 2006, 5522 posts, RR: 57 Reply 11, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 7842 times:
Quoting WTXJET (Reply 9): I don't remember if this flew onto MEL or SYD.
PagoFlyer From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 81 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 7368 times:
Summer of '78 or '79 we flew CO, DC 10, from HNL to PPG to visit friends/family. While in PPG the DC 10 was grounded, (ORD). CO picked up our hotel/meals tab and a week later (?), PA 747 diverted from PPT to pick us up.
PSAJet17 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 248 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 6377 times:
I joined CO in 1979 and service to Sydney and Auckland was already in place. The flight from HNL to SYD stopped in either PPT or PPG while the HNL-AKL flight stopped in PPG. The incident in ORD with AA191 on May 25th 1979 and the subsequent grounding of DC-10s were crippling to CO as we had no long range aircraft to replace the 10's.
pusserchef From Australia, joined Apr 2010, 18 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 4694 times:
Quoting GSPflyer (Reply 10): They also served GUM-CNS, and UA continues to operate the route.
UA98 flies out of Guam on thursday afternoons and arrives into Cairns just prior to midnight (local) and UA99 departs approx 0120 friday (local) mornings. These flights currently use a B738 or 73G.
ecuatoriana707 From Australia, joined Feb 2006, 33 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 3348 times:
In 1990 I flew on a CO DC10 from SYD - HNL - LAX. I remember there was still a lounge area between the business and economy cabin. In 1991 I flew LAX-HNL-CNS-BNE again on a DC10 but this one had no lounge area.
Raises the question, what happened to Continental Hotels? Do they still exist? Do they have a new owner/name? And why only at these small Pacific islands?
SpaceshipDC10 From Canada, joined Jan 2013, 489 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (4 months 4 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 2756 times:
Now I remember that CO ordered these two DC-10-30s specifically for their Pacific network. Until their delivery in 1980, CO only operated DC-10-10s/-10CFs.
PSAJet17 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 248 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (4 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 2312 times:
With the early CO service HNL-SYD (approx 5000 miles) it required the DC-10-10 in use to stop either in PPT or PPG since the stated range of a -10 was only 3800 miles.
I was with CO in 79/80 and don't remember AirMike having DC-10s at the time, only B727 and most were being flown by former WWII pilots, some who had seen action in the Marshall Islands and could tell some great stories while making the approach to Truk or Kwajalein.
yellowtail From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 5276 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (4 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 2270 times:
Quoting pusserchef (Reply 15): UA98 flies out of Guam on thursday afternoons and arrives into Cairns just prior to midnight (local) and UA99 departs approx 0120 friday (local) mornings. These flights currently use a B738 or 73G.
Its only once a week now?
The time is coming for HA to do HNL-CNS
When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No-one has ever collided with the sky.
SpaceshipDC10 From Canada, joined Jan 2013, 489 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (4 months 4 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 2034 times:
Quoting PSAJet17 (Reply 19): With the early CO service HNL-SYD (approx 5000 miles) it required the DC-10-10 in use to stop either in PPT or PPG since the stated range of a -10 was only 3800 miles.
They had to rely on those two -30s for almost two years before getting another pair from the second-hand market.
Quoting PSAJet17 (Reply 19): I was with CO in 79/80 and don't remember AirMike having DC-10s at the time, only B727 and most were being flown by former WWII pilots
They were probably leased in from CO when required and with no special markings.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21679 posts, RR: 23 Reply 23, posted (4 months 4 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 2004 times:
Quoting CARST (Reply 17): And why only at these small Pacific islands?
If memory correct it was because there was virtually no adquate hotel accommodation on many of the small islands served by CO's Air Micronesia operation so the hotels were built to assist in developing tourist traffic.
It was a smaller-scale equivalent of Pan Am's InterContinental Hotels subsidiary which built the first hotels that met international standards in many smaller Pan Am destinations all over the world.
25 SpaceshipDC10: Compared to UA or AA DC-10-10 fleets, that wasn't that much. For a while (about three years) CO had 16 DC-10-10/-10CF
26 COSPN: Well its alot for Guam an Island of 160,000 now only 2 UA 777-200's operate to Guam
27 SpaceshipDC10: That way I can understand it was lots.
28 CARST: Hey thx for that answer Viscount! I did not know that both airlines had hotels. Only knew about Swissair and SAS. I recently wondered when checking i
29 SpaceshipDC10: When Pan Am went bust, the Intercontinental were long gone from its assets. They were sold during the '80s when the company needed a lot of money due
30 Viscount724: TWA also owned Hilton International (only the international hotels, not the U.S. domestic operation) from 1964 to 1986, when they sold Hilton Interna
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