Continental’s furloughed flight attendants recalled

Continental Micronesia will begin daily non-stop service between Nagoya, Japan, and Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 21, 2004, pending government approval. In anticipation of the new service Continental Micronesia will recall up to 45 Guam-based flight attendants from furlough.

Continental Flight 904 will leave Nagoya at 8pm and arrive in Honolulu at 8am the same day. Continental Flight 905 will depart Honolulu at 2:15pm and arrive in Nagoya at 6:45pm the following day.

The new service will further expand the airline’s Asia-Pacific network, meeting strong demands from passengers and travel agents in the Nagoya and Chubu regions for this popular route.

Continental currently operates 52 weekly flights between seven Japanese cities (Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Tokyo, Nagoya, Okayama and Fukuoka) and Guam, and 14 weekly flights between Tokyo and New York and Houston. With the launch of Nagoya-Honolulu service, the airline will operate 73 weekly flights from Japan, while increasing total capacity by about 13 percent.

“This new daily service between Nagoya and Honolulu will build on our already extensive Asia-Pacific network, which currently boasts the greatest number of flights between Japan and Micronesia,” said Mark Erwin, Continental Micronesia president and chief executive officer.

“We’re very happy that this growth in our business has enabled us to bring these co-workers back to work,” said Continental Micronesia managing director of operations Dan Morgan.

Continental will utilize a Boeing 767-400 for the new route, configured with 35 BusinessFirst and 200 coach seats. Every seat has an individual Interactive Entertainment System offering free video games, music and feature films. The aircraft is equipped with oversized storage bins, adjustable winged headrests and sleeper seats in BusinessFirst, laptop computer power ports at every seats in BusinessFirst and select rows in coach, and eight laboratories.

Continental Airlines is the world’s sixth-largest airline with more than 2,900 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Continental serves 149 domestic and 119 international destinations—more than any other airline in the world—and nearly 200 additional points are served via codeshare partner airlines. With 42,000 employees the airline has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and carried approximately 51 million passengers per year.

In 2004, Continental earned awards and critical acclaim for both its operation and its corporate culture. Fortune ranks Continental one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America, an honor it has earned for six consecutive years, and also ranks Continental as the top airline in its Most Admired Global Companies in 2004. The carrier won major awards at the 2004 OAG Airline of the Year Awards including “Airline of the Year,” “Best Airline Based in North America” and “Best Executive/Business Class.” For more company information, visit continental.com.

Continental Micronesia is headquartered on Guam and operates a Pacific hub from the A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Continental Airlines, Continental Micronesia offers more than 290 departures each week between 22 cities throughout the Pacific Rim, the Micronesian islands and Hawaii with a fleet of 13 next-generation Boeing 737 narrowbody and 767 widebody aircraft. In addition, Continental Micronesia and its codeshare partner Cape Air operate commuter service between Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.