This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx Airline to Drop 1,200 Jobs as Part of Cost-Cutting Plan March 20, 2003 By EDWARD WONG Continental Airlines said yesterday that it would eliminate 1,200 jobs over the next several months as part of a broad cost-reduction plan that would try to cut expenses $500 million a year. The cuts include 125 pilots, 500 reservations agents, 350 airport agents and 225 other workers. Excluding those, Continental has eliminated 4,300 jobs since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The company said it would try to make the current cuts first through buyouts, leaves of absence and attrition. "We feel kind of like a candle that's losing its oxygen supply and dimming slowly," Gordon Bethune, Continental's chief executive, said yesterday afternoon in a news conference in Houston. Mr. Bethune said the company had not yet identified all the cost cuts necessary to reach the $500 million figure. But managers have outlined several plans to help achieve that goal. The company wants to eliminate all paper tickets by June 30, 2004, steer more customers to the airline's Web site to buy tickets, close some city ticket offices, renegotiate contracts with suppliers and reduce airport costs and landing fees. Mr. Bethune also said the company was reducing its number of senior managers 25 percent this week. Its officer group will be reduced more than 15 percent. In line with that, the company said four senior vice presidents - George Mason, Bonnie Reitz, Barry Simon and Kuniaki Tsuruta - were retiring. The chief operating officer, C. D. McLean, said on Tuesday that he was retiring, and the company announced yesterday that Larry Kellner, Continental's president, would succeed him. Mr. Bethune said he and other top executives had determined which senior managers should resign. Those managers were also consulted, he said. Continental's board met at 4 p.m. yesterday and was told of the changes in the executive ranks. Like the rest of the industry, Continental is in a precarious position. Mr. Bethune and Mr. Kellner said the company ended last month with $1.2 billion in cash and that it was expected to break even on cash flow in March. But Mr. Kellner said that projection did not take into account a war with Iraq, which would undoubtedly hamper the airline and its rivals. Some bookings, especially for trans-Atlantic flights, have already dropped significantly, Mr. Kellner said. Domestic bookings have not fallen yet, he added, but that could change as the war unfolds. "I have some problem quantifying how much the war itself will impact U. S. domestic travel," said Daniel Solon, an industry analyst with Avmark International in London. "I think that's something that factors more into internal security conditions and fears of terrorism." The Air Transport Association, the industry's main trade group, released a report recently that said the big domestic airlines could lose $10.7 billion this year and be forced to cut 70,000 jobs if a long war ensues. Mr. Bethune characterized a protracted war as one that would last a month or more. "Quite frankly, a month would be forever for us," he said. If the war has a big effect on the industry, Continental might have to cut service to small and medium-size cities, as well as further cut its international flights, Mr. Bethune said. On Tuesday, it announced reduced service starting on April 6 from several airports in the United States to London, Paris and Tokyo. Mr. Bethune said this was because of low passenger demand, not because of the imminent onset of war. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/business/20AIR.html?ex=1049170756&ei=1&en=c95289b82fa43d1a HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company