Continental Airlines Boeing 707-124B N70774

In 1952, Robert Six petitioned the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for longer routes to larger cities, hoping to transform Continental from a small regional carrier, into a trunkline like United Airlines, TWA, and American Airlines. He also was discussing with Boeing for Continental to become one of the first to operate the soon-to-be-launched Boeing 707. The timing was everything, since new the routes would justify the expensive 707s, and vice versa. Continental was scraping out an existence with the few airplanes it had, and Six knew that the 707 was make or break for Continental. By delivery time, "CO" had seen a broad expansion of its longer trunk routes, thanks to a mercifully responsive CAB and persistent efforts by Six and then-Executive Vice President Harding Lawrence. A running joke between of them, they referred to Continental as "the airline that needed to grow." In 1960, Continental flew more than three times the passenger-miles it had in 1956.

One main reason for Six's insistence on the 707, was that he would correctly predict that increased traffic, not higher fares, was the answer to the airline industry's profitability problems. To bewildered amazement (and much mockery) from the industry, he introduced the first economy fare on the Chicago-Los Angeles route in 1962. He later pioneered a number of other low or discount fares which made air travel available to many who could not previously afford it. One of Continental's early innovations was a system-wide economy excursion fare which cut the standard coach fares by more than 25%. These innovations would not only fill the seats of the up-and-coming 707, but keep customers coming back for more.

Continental took delivery of the first of five "short tail" Boeing 707-124s in the spring 1959, and started Chicago-Los Angeles nonstop on June 8th, 1959. With so few jets, Continental needed radical innovations to the 707 maintenance program to make it affordable. It developed the "progressive maintenance" program, which enabled Continental to fly its 707 fleet seven days a week in a unique rotation, achieving greater aircraft utilization than any other jet operator in the industry at the time. Six, not being satisfied with 707 service, introduced innovations and luxe cuisine on Continental's 707 flights which were described as, "... nothing short of luxurious" by the Los Angeles Times, and, "... clearly, the finest in the airline industry" by the Chicago Tribune. A reputation that Continental would gain in the 1960s for superior customer service, combined with low fares, was a winning combination. The 707 was dubbed the first "Golden Jet," with gold becoming something that would define the airline, and stick with it until it's final days.

The Boeing 707-120s would serve with Continental until fall of 1968, when they were sold off in favor of newer Boeing 727s and supplemented by the Douglas DC-9s. The later 707-324s would be operated well into the 1970s, even staying long enough to wear the airlines' "black meatball" scheme.

Thanks to edge for the short tail template mod!