Continental CEO calls Texas Pacific a "distraction" = = = = Thursday September 18, 3:33 PM EDT = By Julie MacIntosh NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines' (CAL) chief executive= said on Thursday the relationship between Continental and private equity= firm Texas Pacific Group may be causing heightened concern within the co= mpany because of the buyout firm's involvement with other airlines. "It's getting to be a distraction," Continental Chairman and Chief Execut= ive Gordon Bethune said. "This is getting to be an issue to our employees= , and it's getting to be an issue with management." Texas Pacific was once Continental's principal shareholder after taking c= ontrol of the airline in the early 1990s when it twice filed for bankrupt= cy. David Bonderman, who manages the Fort Worth, Texas-based firm, now si= ts on Continental's board with another colleague. = Texas Pacific's reach into the sector has spread -- it has a controlling = interest in America West Airlines and is reportedly one of the final bidd= ers for a stake in bankrupt Air Canada. The firm had also agreed to take = a stake in US Airways Group during its bankruptcy until an Alabama pensio= n fund trumped its bid. The question of whether the firm's actions present conflicts of interest = came up at a meeting of Continental's board of directors on Wednesday, Be= thune said, following a breakfast with analysts and reporters in New York= on Thursday. A spokesman for Texas Pacific referred questions on the subject to the bo= ard. But other sources familiar with the board's workings said nothing had cha= nged recently to present conflicts. "The board has looked at this in tremendous detail with all kinds of outs= ide resources," a source close to the company said. "There is no conflict= of interest according to the opinions I know the board has gotten." "This was not a major focus of the board meeting, it was just a conversat= ion," one person present at the meeting said. "The board is just proceedi= ng with making sure they understand the optics of the whole thing." = =A92003 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS