Continental Flies to a New Airline Alliance

Continental Airlines has changed teams in the battle among three large alliances of global airlines.

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2009 file photo, a pair of Continental Airlines 737's park at the terminal...

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2009 file photo, a pair of Continental Airlines 737's park at the terminal while another jet lands at Houston's Bush International Airport. Continental Airlines on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 officially joined the Star Alliance, a move it says will give passengers more options and the airline more places to expand. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, file)

(AP)

The move gets Continental out from under the shadow of Delta Air Lines and could mean a bigger piece of international revenue that is shared among team members.

It will also pull Continental closer to United Airlines. The two talked extensively about combining last year before Continental walked away. Now they will work together on marketing and pricing in the next closest thing to a merger.

Continental customers will get more flights to choose from, and its frequent fliers will get a new roster of international airlines on which to earn and spend miles.

Houston-based Continental officially switched Tuesday from SkyTeam, which is led by Delta and Air France-KLM, to the Star Alliance, which includes United, US Airways and Lufthansa. The move was set in motion last year, when Delta bought Northwest, another SkyTeam member, and became the world's largest airline company.

Being part of SkyTeam "worked for us when there were three equal airlines," said Continental President Jeff Smisek, referring to Delta, Northwest and Continental. But when Delta and Northwest combined, "it relegated us, in effect, to junior-partner status."

Airline alliances have grown over the past decades as carriers looked to expand their networks with partners while avoiding the need to hire more pilots and flight attendants to operate more flights themselves.

Continental's switch to Star was more than a year in the making, and was marked Tuesday with a lavishly produced ceremony at Newark Liberty International Airport, Continental's hub in the New York City area. The CEOs from many other Star members attended the event.

Glenn Tilton, the CEO of United parent UAL, called it "a great day for Continental; it's a great day for my company."

Continental CEO Larry Kellner said the day after his airline broke off merger talks with United, Tilton called him and lobbied for Continental to join the Star Alliance.