Year-Round Daily Houston-Rio, Brazil, Coming Soon from Continental

US-based Continental Airlines announced this Tuesday, October 28, that it has filed an application with the American Department of Transportation (DOT) to operate daily year-round service between its Houston hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport and Rio de Janeiro and through flight service between New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro beginning June 2009.

"We continue to see strong demand by our corporate customers for daily nonstop service between these two important oil markets," said John Slater, Continental's staff vice president Latin America and Caribbean sales. 

"The new flight will complement our existing service between the U.S. and Brazil and provide additional access for tourists traveling between the two cities."

Continental proposes to operate the daily service utilizing a Boeing 767-200 on the route, with 25 seats in BusinessFirst and 149 seats in economy. The proposed nonstop flight will be timed to offer convenient flight connections at Continental's Houston hub to more than 104 cities throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

The airline currently operates daily nonstop service between Continental's New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and São Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport and between Houston and São Paulo, with continuing service to Rio de Janeiro.  In addition, the airline will operate three times weekly nonstop service between Houston and Rio de Janeiro from December 17, 2008 through February 28, 2009.

Continental Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline.  Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 2,500 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 134 domestic and 131 international destinations.

More than 675 additional points are served via alliance partners.  With more than 43,000 employees, Continental has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and together with Continental Express, carries approximately 69 million passengers per year.