Continental Airlines today during its fourth-quarter earnings call said it plans to officially exit the SkyTeam airline alliance on Oct. 24, after which the carrier "promptly" will transition to the Star Alliance.
"We want to make our transition from SkyTeam to the Star Alliance as customer-friendly as possible for both our customers and those of the SkyTeam alliance," Continental CEO Larry Kellner said today. "We'll be working hard with our partners at SkyTeam and our future partners at Star to make that happen."
Continental in June 2008 announced intentions to leave SkyTeam and tightly align with United Airlines and its Star Alliance partners
(BTNonline, June 30, 2008). Continental's plans for Star Alliance include a four-way antitrust-immunized joint venture with United, Air Canada and Lufthansa, which still awaits U.S. Department of Transportation approval.