Continental Airlines and ANA Announce Alliance Partnership

NEW YORK, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) and ANA have signed an Alliance Agreement allowing both carriers to strengthen cooperation just after Continental's joining the Star Alliance on October 27, 2009.

Mark Erwin, Senior Vice President - Corporate Development and Alliances of Continental, and Keisuke Okada, Executive Vice President - Alliances and International Affairs of ANA, met yesterday in New York to sign the Alliance Agreement, extending cooperation across a variety of areas including code sharing, frequent flyer programs, and lounge access.

Continental joined Star Alliance on October 27, 2009 as the 25th member. The customers of both airlines will now be able to accrue and redeem mileage on any route operated by either carrier, and the top-tier frequent flyer customers (Star Alliance Gold members) will also have complete access to the lounges of both carriers, as well as other Star Alliance benefits.

In addition to the Star Alliance benefits, Continental and ANA plan to implement code share arrangements starting in 2010, subject to necessary government approvals. With code share arrangements in place, both airlines plan to offer greater convenience to mutual customers traveling between Asia and the Americas.

"Continental Airlines is honored to become an alliance partner with ANA, an airline that has a worldwide reputation for high quality customer service," said Larry Kellner, Chairman and CEO of Continental. "We will cooperate with ANA on code sharing, frequent flyer reciprocity, and airport lounge access, and look forward to providing customers with more flight options and convenient services on global itineraries."

"ANA is delighted to welcome Continental Airlines as the newest Star Alliance member and establish this partnership with them," said Shinichiro Ito, President and CEO of ANA. "Continental Airlines' network will offer more travel options to our customers especially in Micronesia, the U.S. domestic and Latin America. Both customers will also enjoy our collective network which will be enhanced more through code share which will start next year," he added.

Continental Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline. Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 2,400 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 130 domestic and 132 international destinations. Continental is a member of Star Alliance, which provides access to more than 900 additional points via 24 other member airlines. With more than 41,000 employees, Continental has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and together with its regional partners, carries approximately 63 million passengers per year.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is Japan's largest domestic carrier and the tenth largest airline in the world by passenger load, according to IATA rankings, carrying almost 50 million passengers every year to 52 destinations in Japan and 26 cities throughout Asia, Europe and the US on its fleet of 214 aircrafts. ANA has won awards in all categories for its product and services and was voted Airlines of the Year for 2007 by Air Transport World Magazines. ANA joined the Star Alliance in 1999 and will celebrate its 10th year Star Alliance membership.