WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines and Continental Micronesia said today that they applaud the recently announced open skies agreement between the U.S. and Japan.
The U.S. Government has signed an historic open skies agreement that will provide the U.S. industry guaranteed access to Tokyo's Haneda airport for the first time in the 30-plus years it has been closed to U.S. carriers. In addition, U.S. airline customers, shippers, communities and employees will benefit from aviation liberalization with Japan including a broader choice of airline flights, itineraries, fares and eventually more flights between the two countries.
The carriers are confident that the new U.S.-Japan agreement establishes a fair opportunity for them to compete in all the important markets between the two countries. Continental currently serves eight cities in Japan (Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Tokyo, Nagoya, Okayama, Hiroshima and Fukuoka) with more than 70 weekly departures, and will add Osaka on a year round scheduled-service basis from December 23. In October, Continental joined Star Alliance and currently serves Japan in conjunction with alliance partners including United Airlines and ANA. Continental is currently discussing deeper cooperation with these two airlines on trans-Pacific routes, and this cooperation would be facilitated by the new Open Skies agreement.
"We deeply appreciate the leadership of Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Transportation LaHood in this process," said Continental Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner. "Both the U.S. and Japan negotiating teams deserve credit for achieving this break-through agreement, which will re-define air travel between the two countries for years to come."
Continental expressed gratitude to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), Congressman Gene Green (D-TX), and virtually the entire Texas Congressional Delegation for recognizing the benefits of open skies and encouraging the U.S. negotiators to conclude this deal.
Continental Airlines
CONTACT: Corporate Communications, +1-713-324-5080, corpcomm@coair.com
Web Site: http://www.continental.com/
