Gordon Bethune
Gordon Bethune
Gordon M. Bethuneis a retired US airline executive. He was the CEO of Continental Airlines from 1994 until his retirement at the end of 2004. He currently serves on the boards of Honeywell, Sprint, Prudential Financial...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth29 August 1941
CountryUnited States of America
argue morning
I am doing what I want to do, which is kind of a first. I get up in the morning and don't argue with the government, and I don't argue about money.
ceo fun paid talk
The fun part is, the same talk I would give gratis as CEO of Continental, I get paid handsomely for now.
amadeus focus giving management
Our focus as management is on liquidating (our Amadeus stake) ... and giving that back to shareholders,
destroy meat
If you take the meat ax to the problem, you destroy relationships, ... And who loses? The employees. The customers. And the shareholders.
comfort cost fleet latest market next order plan providing reduce technology total
Continental now has a fleet plan that makes us competitive in every market well into the next century. This latest order will reduce our total cost while providing the latest in technology and comfort to our customers.
customers percent
Bookings are OK, but sometimes as many as 30 percent of the customers don't show up,
dumped gate reason screening security thinks top underwear
For some reason TSA thinks that dumping out our passengers' underwear at the gate after it has already been dumped out at the security screening checkpoint makes TSA look like they are on top of things.
ibm paid pay people percent rather somewhere
I'd rather have 50 people at 100 percent of their pay than 100 people at 50 percent, ... If you don't pay people what they're worth, they'll go to IBM or somewhere where they are paid what they're worth.
ability airline approved business compete contend deal dominate fix largest prices schedules
The world's largest airline and Europe's largest carrier contend they can't compete without the ability to fix prices and schedules and dominate the world's largest business market, ... This is a deal that just should not be approved under any circumstances.
great hub spoke
While it's great to outperform all of our hub and spoke competitors, we still need to find a way to make money,
alaska alliance approach best common customers delivering excited horizon offer partner perfect route service travel united western
We are excited to partner with Alaska and Horizon to offer our customers significantly expanded travel opportunities in the western United States. With only one overlapping route but a common approach to delivering the best service to our customers, an alliance between Continental and Alaska/Horizon is a perfect fit.
chicago either means states united
You know how Chicago works? You're either on United or American; that's it, ... You take what they give you at the same fare, which means the whole United States would look like Chicago.
adverse customers dedicated effect employees massive necessity regret schedule
While we regret the necessity for this massive furlough and the substantial schedule reduction, the adverse effect on our dedicated employees and customers and the communities we serve, we have ... no choice.
buying closer dominant west zero
The probabilities (of) United, the dominant carrier in the West, buying and merging with the third-biggest carrier in the West (America West) are closer to zero than they are to any other number,