Continental is one of a small number of 736 operators; anyone know:-
1) have they already brought the type into service,
2) if not, when?
3) where are they based and what routes are they operating on - or planned to be operated on?
No. Finally Continental is not going to operate the 737-600, eventhough they have ordered 700's, 800's and 900's. But yes, it is true that they were thinking of buying 737-600's.
As far as I know, the only airline that curently has 737-600's is SAS. SAS operates them on routes within Europe. I beleive that Tunis Air and Air Algerie also ordered a few of them.
At one point, CO had 35ish 736s on order, but converted them all to 73Gs and 738s. They decided the larger aircraft would suit them better and they already had plenty of 735s, with more on order. Currently, both SAS and Tunis Air operate the 736.
Yes, American has 400 Next Generation 737's on option. Those include 600's and 700's, they are going to replace the Super 80's. American has 737-800's already.