Even though former CEO Gordon Bethune is gone, the mentality that he left behind still continues today. He said in his book, From Worst to First, that instead of "adding more hubs, which would have spread [Continental Airlines] thinner again and sent [Continental] down the road, we had just pulled ourseleves off of. Instead we added new destinations from the hubs and increased service to the places people did want to go." (page157) This is why Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport saw the growth it did. Continental is one of only a few carriers that are adding capacity this year.
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Growth in passenger traffic soared 9 percent last year at Bush Intercontinental Airport, enough to make it the fourth-fastest growing airport in the world. That surpasses hot Asian airports such as Singapore's.
A big factor is Houston's surging oil-fired economy, which has stoked job growth and punched up travel demand. Nearly 80,000 jobs will be added to the Houston region this year, according to the Greater Houston Partnership report in May. That's up two-thirds from a December estimate. But much of the airport traffic hike lies with the strategy of its major carrier, Continental Airlines Inc. Houston's hometown airline has taken a markedly different approach from most of its peers by adding planes and beefing up international and domestic flying. "We're not flying more international just to escape the domestic market like our competitors," Jeff Smisek, Continental's president, said at the carrier's annual meeting here last week.
Continental's domestic flying will grow 5 percent this year, he said, in part because the nation's fourth-largest airline needs passengers to feed its hubs and to support more international flying. Most large rivals have added international flights by cannibalizing their domestic networks, where they face intense low-fare competition.
"It's fair to say that Houston's strong economy has helped us have confidence here," said Karen Zachary, who plans Continental's domestic system, from her office in the carrier's downtown headquarters.
Continental and its regional affiliates fly 85 percent of the traffic at Intercontinental today.
The carrier isn't done growing by any stretch. Continental announced 34 aircraft orders at its annual meeting, including doubling its orders for next-generation Boeing 787s to 20 planes.
"That's the perfect plane for our airport," said Richard Vacar, director of Bush Intercontinental, who has seen his facility go from half-empty in the mid-1990s, when Continental was struggling, to completely full today.
"Only the biggest hubs with the best traffic are going to get those planes," he said, "and we'll be one of them."
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