Continental Airlines Launches Fifth Daily New York/Newark-London/Heathrow Service

CHICAGO, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), will inaugurate a fifth daily flight from its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport on Oct. 30. The airline also operates two daily flights from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, its largest hub, to Heathrow.

The additional flight offers Continental customers a new late-evening departure from New York/Newark, while the westbound schedule now features an early-morning departure from Heathrow.

"The fifth daily New York/Newark-Heathrow service enables Continental to offer its customers on this flagship route a choice of flights at popular times of the day," said Jim Compton, executive vice president and chief revenue officer of United Continental Holdings, Inc. "With this improved schedule and all our Heathrow flights featuring flat-bed seats in our award-winning BusinessFirst cabin, Continental has a highly attractive offering on the New York-London route, one of the most competitive routes in the world."  

Effective Oct. 30, Continental's London winter schedule will be as follows (timings will be different after Daylight Saving Time ends Nov. 7; for verification of schedules, go to continental.com):

As well as offering a broad range of schedule options for travelers between New York and London, the flights provide connections at Heathrow to an extensive network of service throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Continental operates the largest hub in the New York City metropolitan area at Newark Liberty International Airport.  

Continental's Heathrow flights are operated using two aircraft types: the 276-seat Boeing 777-200, carrying 50 passengers in the BusinessFirst cabin and 226 in Economy; and the 175-seat Boeing 757-200, with 16 BusinessFirst seats and 159 Economy seats. All Continental aircraft scheduled for its Heathrow flights feature new, flat-bed seats in BusinessFirst.

In addition to its Heathrow flights, Continental operates non-stop services from New York/Newark to Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester, as well as Dublin and Shannon – offering trans-Atlantic service to more cities in the U.K. and Ireland than any other airline. The Bristol service will be discontinued effective Nov. 6 (eastbound).

In addition, Continental and Virgin Atlantic Airways codeshare on several Virgin Atlantic-operated flights from New York/Newark to London/Heathrow and London/Gatwick.  

United Airlines, also a wholly owned subsidiary of United Continental Holdings, Inc., operates non-stop services from Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. to London/Heathrow.

About United Continental Holdings, Inc.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) is the holding company for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Together with United Express, Continental Express and Continental Connection, these airlines operate a total of approximately 5,800 flights a day to 371 airports on six continents from their hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark Liberty, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. United and Continental are members of Star Alliance, which offers more than 21,200 daily flights to 1,172 airports in 181 countries worldwide through its 28 member airlines. United's and Continental's more than 80,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world. For more information about United Continental Holdings, Inc., go to UnitedContinentalHoldings.com. For more information about the airlines, see united.com and continental.com, and follow each company on Twitter and Facebook.

SOURCE Continental Airlines