HOUSTON --
Continental Airlines served notice on its regional jet partner
ExpressJet that its cutting back on the amount of capacity it will
buy in 2007, and will seek to make up the difference with other
regional airlines, at a lower cost.
ExpressJet is the
exclusive operator of Continental Express regional jet services for
Continental, but the senior partner said the deal is costing it too
much and it will issue requests for proposals with replacement
carriers.
In a first step,
Continental said it will withdraw 69 of 274 regional jet aircraft
from its capacity purchase agreement with ExpressJet a year from
now.
Continental said,
The transition of service from ExpressJet to a new operator is
expected to begin in January 2007 and be completed during the
summer of 2007.
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