Twenty-Five things you didn't know about Continental

1) Continental began as Varney Speed Lines in 1934, founded by Walter T. Varney with the main goal of carrying mail and having only four seats per plane for passengers.

2) In 1936 Robert Six purchased 40 percent of Varney Speed Lines, was named Executive Vice President one year later, and remained a central point man for the airline for over 40 years.

3) Bob Six gave Varney Speed Lines a new name in 1937 based on his desire to see the airline go not just north or south but Continental.

4) In order to comply with a US regulation in 1937 that all airlines fly twin-engine planes, Bob Six and Louis Mueller mortgaged their homes to pay for three Lockheed Model 12 Baby Electras.

5) In 1941 Continental recorded $218,000 in revenue from carrying 17,232 passengers, but that wasn't even half of what the airline made from carrying mail — $491,000.

6) After implementing an interchange service allowing passengers to fly long hauls by conveniently changing airlines, Continental saw a 54 percent revenue increase in 1951 for a profit of $400,000, its largest profit up to that date.

7) In order to make service a trademark, Continental introduced Gold Carpet Service giving passengers a four-option Country Club cuisine, and entertainment on long-haul flights that included sports figures and magicians.

8) By practicing progressive maintenance to keep planes in the air for up to 16 revenue hours a day, passenger miles soared 145 percent bringing the total from 363 million to 891 million in 1960.

9) In 1963 actress Audrey Meadows, wife of Continental president Bob Six, had the idea for flight attendants to sport chic black dresses with a long strand of pearls, which became a distinctive symbol of the air line.

10) Continental was the first airline to hire an African American pilot — Marlon Green came to fly for the company in 1965 and stayed until his retirement in 1978.

11) Starting in 1970, twenty-five 747s joined the Continental fleet, equipped with cabins segmented into what looked like individual living rooms decorated with hanging prints in the lavatories.

12) The average revenue per employee at Continental in 1974 was $33,000 — above and beyond the industry average of $29,000.

13) In the 1970s the Continental hostess-training department was contracted by an array of outside enterprises such as Playboy Magazine and the Sisters of Social Service, to instruct bunnies and nuns on grooming, cosmetics, and social mannerisms.

14) After President Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, Continental added 18 new routes to its growing list, including flights to New York, Washington, DC, and Mexico.

15) After bringing in a profit for 42 out of the 43 years he was with the company, Bob Six became almost completely disassociated with Continental as a result of the deregulation.

16) To garner support for a new customer service campaign in 1987, Continental held its Worldwide Performance Celebration in Houston with entertainment from Gladys Knight and the Pips that was broadcast live to 12 cities and watched by more than 20,000 employees and their families.

17) When Continental began its daily 747 flight service from Seattle to Tokyo in 1989 the first class dining menu was prepared by a prestigious Japanese chef and included caviar with chilled vodka, spinach salad, poached salmon laid over angel hair pasta, a choice of rib eye, pheasant, makunouchi, or the chef's special, and finally, lemon sorbet.

18) Because of the company's support in Desert Shield/Desert Storm as part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (Continental employees flew 91 missions), Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice presented Continental with an American flag on July 26, 1991.

19) On Super Bowl Sunday of 1998 Continental turned down an offer from Delta to buy the company because they would not agree in writing to provide fair treatment for all Continental employees.

20) Continental was the first commercial carrier to use the satellite-based Global Positioning System, GPS, to navigate and land aircraft in 1994.

21) During a rough period in 1994 Continental was dead last in ranking among the United States' 10 biggest airlines according to measurements by the Department of Transportation, but in May 2000 and June 2006 the air line received the No. 1 in Customer Satisfaction award from Frequent Flyer/J.D. Power & Associates.

22) To open up communication lines and keep employees up to date on all Continental information Gordon Bethune put up some 600 bulletin boards in every office common area in 1995, and installed LED screens in 1997.

23) As a pioneer in the eTicket revolution, Continental set a record in 2002 for the highest volume of customers checking in with the eService Centers with about 650,000 domestic customers choosing eTickets over traditional check in.

24) The company had a mere 10 employees when it began in 1934 and now in 2009, Continental employs 43,000 people worldwide.

25) In its environmental efforts, Continental became the first US commercial airline to perform a test flight with biofuel — a mixture involving components from algae and jatropha plants — on January 7, 2009.

— Sarah Daniels