Continental Airlines seeks wage, benefit cuts of $500 million.

Publication: The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2004 The Record

Byline: Richard Newman

Nov. 19--Continental Airlines, which employs more than 11,000 people at Newark Liberty International Airport, said Thursday that it expects to lose "hundreds of millions" of dollars this year and must seek $500 million in pay and benefit cuts from workers.

Although other struggling Big Six airlines have wrested wage concessions from unions since the 9/11 attacks, Continental had resisted. But in a news release late Thursday, Chief Executive Officer Gordon Bethune said $500 million in cuts is "the absolute minimum we need to be a survivor."

That amount is about one-sixth of the Houston-based company's labor costs, a spokesman said.

Continental is the dominant airline at Newark Liberty, where it flies three out of every five commercial passengers, including those carried by its regional affiliate, Continental Express.

Continental had lost $68 million through the end of September...

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