Courtesy of Mr. Schwartz, an informative read about how it all began:
Understanding Our History (2/01)
By Capt. Bret Hinkie
Bret Hinkie is a Houston-based CALEx RJ captain. He is the volunteer coordinator for the CALEx pilots STARTeam (see p. 6).
It was a Monday, the morning of April 29, 1996. I was on my way to the airport for another day of cheating death for eight bucks an hour while trying to keep the sweat out of my eyes. A friend had encouraged me to fax a resume to some carrier called Continental Express, which I did just before running out the door. Continental has a commuter airline? The following Monday morning I was trying to wrap my brain around concepts like drift-down, PMR, and slam-clicker. I'm willing to bet a lot of the pilots at CALEx have a similar story. I hate to admit it, but I found out what the logo and paint scheme looked like when I showed up at MLU airport to hitch a ride for the interview. I didn't understand the present, much less the past! Today, if I'm trying to put a flight plan into the FMS computer, it must have a beginning waypoint. Likewise, we as a pilot group, must know our beginning waypoint if we are to chart our course for the future.
The Past
The history of Continental Express is not as easy to trace as the history of Continental Airlines. Volumes are written about the major airlines, but very little is written about the commuter/feeder/regional carriers that have served them. In my own research, I have found the best information in bits and pieces. This shouldn't surprise any of us, since Continental Express operated in bits and pieces� for so many years. Our airline literally began as a rag-tag collection of assorted aircraft and companies in the mid-to-late '80s. To put our past in perspective, let me first start with an extremely brief history of Continental.
Continental Airlines entered into the aviation arena as Varney Speed Lines in 1926, later becoming Continental Airlines in 1937, and flourishing for many years under the leadership of Robert F. Six. In 1978, the Airline Deregulation Act was passed, beginning more than a decade of turmoil at Continental. The infamous Frank Lorenzo used his self-created holding company of Texas Air Corporation to gain control of several airlines struggling in the post-deregulation era. These included Texas International, Continental, Frontier, People Express, Eastern, and Lorenzo's own start-up, New York Air. The saga chronicling these transactions and Lorenzo's negative impact on aviation in the United States has been studied and analyzed in numerous books. Rather than re-write history and risk getting it wrong, I suggest you look at our must-read list� featured on the first page of this publication.
Following deregulation, major airlines abandoned many smaller cities when they could not fill the seats of larger jet aircraft. Airlines began to rely on the hub-and-spoke system using independent carriers to feed passengers from the smaller cities using profitable propeller-driven aircraft.
Many of these commuter or "feeder" carriers were eventually purchased by the majors they served, but not all. Several independent carriers flying under the Continental Express name were never absorbed. These included Pioneer in Denver, Royale Airways in Houston, and Presidential Airways. Using BAe 146s, Presidential was the first carrier to fly jet aircraft under the Continental Express name from Washington. The first company to place the title of Continental Express on its aircraft was Air New Orleans using BE-99s (see photo). But the present-day Continental Express can trace its roots to the purchases of Texas Air Corporation.
When Frank Lorenzo went airline shopping, he inherited many of the commuter airlines that had code-share deals with the majors he acquired. People Express, based in Newark, owned a small northeastern commuter called Provincetown-Boston Airline (PBA), and Eastern had a code-share agreement with another northeastern commuter, Bar Harbor Airlines. Bar Harbor merged with PBA to create a feeder system at Newark. People Express also owned a Midwest commuter, Britt Airways. When Texas Air Corporation purchased People Express, Britt Airways' fleet became the core of the Continental Express system in Houston and Cleveland. (Some of Britt Airways' F-27 aircraft were also used to create a Continental Express operation in Guam feeding Air Micronesia!)
Continental had a large hub in Denver, CO. Rocky Mountain Airways, purchased by Texas Air Corp., provided CAL's primary feed there. When Continental closed the Denver hub, Rocky Mountain's operations and aircraft were moved to Houston.
The Present
Continental Express finally became a single corporate entity operating under the Britt Airways certificate in April 1993. You probably noticed the letters BTA next to your flight number on PDCs and flight plans. When I first came here to work in May 1996, Continental Express was an all-turboprop fleet consisting of BE-1900Ds, EMB-120s, and ATR 42/72s. The route structure consisted mainly of out-and-back flying from the hubs to destinations within 500 miles (see route map).
In September 1996, Continental Express placed the first orders for 200 ERJ-145s. The first revenue service flight took place in April 1997 from Cleveland. Originally, these jets were portrayed as replacements for the turboprop fleet. It has become very obvious, however, that the ERJ-135/145s have been used to expand the fleet at an unprecedented rate - about 40% in 2000. The company now predicts that all turboprops will be off the property by 2004.
With a 1,000-nm range, the ERJ-135/145s are not only being used on new destinations (long and thin routes), but also to supplement and even assume what were once Continental routes. Today, Continental Express operates a fleet of 164 aircraft carrying more than 8 million customers each year with more than 1,000 daily departures to more than 105 cities (see route map).
From our humble beginnings as a hodge-podge of various airlines thrown together and struggling to survive, Continental Express has grown into a large, viable, and profitable business. Today's Continental Express is totally different from the early days. It is also vastly different from just a few years ago when we negotiated our present contract. Like the aviation industry generally and our company, the pilot contract must evolve to keep up with the times and meet our pilot groups' needs. An industry-leading airline should provide and can afford a contract that reflects its standing.
The Future
According to press announcements, Continental Express plans to be an all-jet fleet by 2004, operating over 300 aircraft, nearly double our current fleet size. Most important will be the delivery of the ERJ-145XRs beginning in 2002. The "XR" aircraft will be used to expand the route system to destinations within a 1,500-nm range (see range map). These could include routes such as IAH to Canadian cities, California, and Central America; CLE to Mexico, south Florida, and south Texas; EWR/LGA to central Canada, south Texas, and the Midwest. The name "regional jet"� has become a misnomer. The CALEx Negotiating Committee has suggested that we should stop using the "R" word (regional) when referring to the RJ. Perhaps we should call it a "Real Jet" or as Richard Cox, a member of our Negotiating Committee, likes to put it, revenue jet. With congestion at our CLE, IAH, and EWR hubs at an all-time high, Continental Express has established a mini-hub at LGA and expanded point-to-point flying through RIC to Florida. Simultaneously, code-share efforts have been expanded to include Northeast-based Commutair. Commutair and Florida-based Gulfstream International operate as a Continental Connection.� The aircraft are painted identical to ours with the exception of the word "Connection"� in place of "Express". � Recently, the Gulfstream and Commutair route systems have been included in the back of the Continental magazine. Gulfstream has been taking delivery of Continental Express BE-1900D aircraft as our company phases them out. I wonder, where will the EMB-120s and ATR42s go? What about future jet deliveries?
What does all of this mean to us? As a pilot group, we must begin to look further ahead in the flight plan and call for the back-up we need to be ready. Otherwise, we may find ourselves behind the airplane literally. Without a giant step forward on our part, 20 years from now it's feasible that more pilots will be doing the same job with reduced pay, benefits, and quality of life. Will Continental Express be the newest B-scale major airline? Will our Connection brothers represent a whole new invention - the C scale?
Strength Through Unity
When I consider the history of Continental Express and the monumental achievements that were made in contract '97, I realize what a great feat it was for a group of pilots thrown together from many different carriers. Now, it is our turn to spread out the charts and decide where we want to go.
The CALEx Negotiating Committee has made clear that our next contract should not just be an improvement on the old, but an entirely new document that reflects the type of operation we are rapidly becoming - a small major airline. But they've warned us that we'll need to take pilot readiness and resources to a whole new level to exert that kind of power at the bargaining table.
It is up to us to decide if we have the fuel, charts, and experience to complete the flight ahead. The possible merger of the IACP and ALPA is a major part of that future consideration. How do we add to our leverage and bargaining power? Would we be better off on our own or with the backing of 60,000 other pilots? Every pilot at CALEx has the responsibility of getting the facts and thinking about these things.
Unlike our current mangement thinking, I don't want negotiations to resemble being handed three Jeppessen plates and told to point the aircraft at Mexico without other resources.
The future is in our hands. I believe we should take the attitude of Sir Winston Churchill when he said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."� A determined and well-equipped pilot group and a financially strong company give us the ingredients to succeed. Let's not leave history to chance. Let us all participate in its writing.
Most of the information in this piece came from conversations with pilots who flew for the aforementioned carriers, as well as from an article by Stefano Pagiola, which appeared in the November 1999 issue of Airways magazine. Included in the article was a pictorial history of Continental Express containing an excellent collection of photos, some of which appear in this newsletter. You can order a copy of that issue for yourself at
Airways Magazine - A Global Review of Commercial Flight for $6.50. Special thanks to Stefano Pagiola and Airways magazine editor John Wegg for the use of the information and pictures.
__________________________________________________ ______________________
I stickied this in the New Hire Section a long time ago, as I thought it might be a valuable and informative read for those who just started or were thinking of starting out here. Reading through it (and cleaning up the weird glitches that came from changing board software), I realize it's time to at least add an update to bring us up to speed with where we are today. I don't proclaim to be an expert and I may make some mistakes going forward in this thread, so the error lies in the author and no one else. I will unlock this thread and make it available for others to post corrections, suggestions, etc.
Without further ado - Chapter 2
The above article was written in February of '01. Obviously the entire industry and world changed only a few months later.
Shortly after this article was written, the membership did indeed vote to become a member of ALPA, and the IACP worked alongside the new ALPA team to create a combined MEC.
September 11th occurred and along with the loss of life of that day, everyone's career in aviation was suddenly uncertain.
Continental Airlines made the fairly quick decision to furlough pilots as a part of their cost-cutting strategy and in preparation for the greatly reduced number of flights anticipated after the tragedy. Part of the flow-through clause in Contract '97 allowed pilots at Continental to flow back into Continental Express (whether they were former Express pilots or not). This displaced close to three hundred pilots off of the bottom of the seniority list at Express where most remained furloughed for over two years. This number was kept as low as it was in part due to the offer and acceptance of COLAs (Company Offered Leave of Absence) taken by numerous active Express pilots.
Express also chose to park the Brasilia fleet far earlier than planned, and the last ended their careers with Continental Express by the end of 2001.
The ATR's were slowly phased out as well, the 72's returned to their lessors and the 42's all moved down to Houston. The ATR was operated out of Houston for another year, finishing up it's run in December of '02. This made Continental Express an "All jet Fleet" at least a year earlier than planned. All the while, deliveries of RJ's continued including the new and improved XR model. Continental Express remains the only airline to this day to have the ERJ-145XR as part of it's fleet. It's ability to carry a full load of passengers and cargo over greater distances at higher speeds has made it a true asset and arguably the best of the 50 seat airliners.
In 2002 Continental Airlines announced an IPO for Continental Express. It was selling off it's home grown regional - partly in response to fears generated by the Comair strike against Delta, and partly as a revenue generating opportunity in the lean years following 9/11 - and Expressjet would eventually be born. This had actually been planned to occur in late 2001, but fortunately for Continental, they had not sold Express yet and were able to make full use of their resource for awhile longer.
In early 2003, Continental realized that as good as the RJ was, there were still some routes for which a turbo-prop was best suited. They approached Express management first to see if they were interested in returning any of their turbo-props to service, but Express declined. And so, Commutair filled in the gap with their 1900's out of Cleveland. ALPA, who had worked diligently to obtain health benefits, and severance pay for the furloughed pilots stepped in again - asking that our furloughs be given the opportunity to work for Commutair until such a time as they were recalled to Continental Express. This came to happen, and a number of furloughed pilots were given the opportunity to fly again - many even able to upgrade to Captain in the time they spent there.
In this time as well, ALPA opened pre-negotiations for Contract '04, with the slogan, "Taking Our Place" - determined to gain recognition for the quality product Contintal Express offered.
Shortly thereafter, Continental Express announced that they would begin recalling pilots, with the first class returning in May. This good news was short-lived however as only one or two classes returned before recalls were canceled.
That summer, Continental again asked Express if they would be interested in operating turbo-props, this time out of Houston - and again Express declined and so Utah-based Skywest airlines stepped in. Utilizing a combination of some of their own and ex-Express Brasilias, they began operating to many of the smaller cities that could not support multiple RJ flights. Once again, ALPA made their request on behalf of the furloughs and approximately 50 or so went to fly either the Brasilia or the CRJ for Skywest beginning in August of '03. Skywest would be replaced by Colgan Air and their Saab 340's about a year or so later.
In around September of '03, Express once again announced recalls and this time they happened, and they happened quickly, with nearly all of the furloughs returning by early '04.
This rolled right into official Contract negotiation time for Contract '04 - a long and arduous process that eventually culminated in what is [currently] the best contract of any "regional" airline, with many components the envy of the majors. While it continues to be fine tuned, and new gaps are discovered as the operation grows and changes - all in all it serves us well and should allow us to make a postive step in 2010.
Things operated fairly normally for a couple of years, but as is always the case in the airline industry; change is the only constant. Shortly after Christmas of 2005, Continental announced it was exercising it's right to remove aircraft from the agreement with Expressjet - 25% of the fleet to be exact. Their plan was to give these aircraft to subcontractor Chautauqua to operate primarily out of Houston. Expressjet decided to keep these aircraft and operate them independently, outside of the Continental system much, it seems, to the surprise of both Continental and Chautauqua.
Two thousand and six came and went in a seeming blur as details slowly came forth, both for Continental's plans, as well as Expressjet's. In the end, Expressjet elected to operate on multiple fronts, utilizing their new resources in a charter capacity, their own branded airline and offering their services successfully to other carriers such as Jetblue and Delta Airlines.
We find ourselves now in 2007 and things seem to be going well on the whole. When one considers the unprecedented steps taken over the last couple of years, it's exciting to see what Expressjet has managed to accomplish, and the future should be interesting to experience. Stay tuned.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
So, there you have it. All this has been done only from memory, so the opportunity for errors in time line and facts is great. Anyone that would like to add/fix/change anything, feel free to post below, and I'll filter it in. If you would like to rewrite a paragraph (or the whole thing), just type it up and I can cut and paste it in.
Just a quick heads up though. Moderation on this topic will be considerable. I've attempted to be fairly impartial, though I'm sure I may have slipped a bit. That being said, this isn't about becoming a pro/anti union, pro/anti Chautauqua, pro/anti company piece. Anything deemed to be off topic (by my, or the other mods' consideration) will be deleted. My hope is that this can serve as a simple resource for those who are interested. Thanks in advance.
Red
The History of Continental Express/Expressjet: updated
Linear Mode
