Sources: Continental may increase presence at DIA DENVER (AP) =97 Continental Airlines Inc. may create a hub at Denver=20 International Airport if United Airlines slashes operations there, sources= =20 told a Denver newspaper. In the past three months, schedule planners for=20 Houston-based Continental have been studying the profitability of routes=20 from DIA and possible capacity changes by United, DIA's largest carrier,=20 The Rocky Mountain News reported Friday. A Continental spokesman, David=20 Messing, said "as things stand now, we don't expect to expand in Denver."=20 However, he said, "The industry is in a great state of flux. If industry=20 conditions change dramatically, we'd have to take a close look at new=20 options that present themselves." DIA spokesman Dan Melfi said Continental= =20 told him it was doing studies. He said other airlines, including American=20 Airlines, also are doing analyses and might look at some type of expansion. Continental's studies add weight to comments made by the carrier's chief=20 executive, Gordon Bethune, before United's Dec. 9 bankruptcy filing.=20 Bethune told The New York Times that Continental, which once had a Denver=20 hub, might want to expand in Denver to increase its foothold in the West. A source told the Rocky that Continental has plans that account for the=20 different actions Chicago-based United might take. Continental also is=20 analyzing what other airlines at DIA might do if United reduces operations.= =20 Analysts said Continental would be the most likely of the major U.S.=20 airlines to start a DIA hub in place of United. Officials with UAL Corp.,=20 United's parent company, said they want to keep DIA as a hub as part of=20 their restructuring strategy. However, the company said recently that its=20 board asked executives to explore closing up to three of the carrier's U.S.= =20 hubs, including Denver, as a possible alternative. UAL officials would not comment on Continental. Continental, the world's=20 seventh-largest airline, has U.S. hubs in Houston, Newark, N.J., and=20 Cleveland. It has 13 daily flights from DIA; each goes to one of the hubs.= =20 Continental was Denver's dominant carrier in the 1980s at Stapleton=20 Airport. After the airline's own bankruptcy and fierce competition with=20 United, it drastically reduced its presence in Denver when DIA opened in=20 1995. Continental shares closed up 14 cents at $5.21 Friday on the New York= =20 Stock Exchange and United shares closed up .06 cents at $1.03. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.tha.gov.tt/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************