title: Trump Tower

text: "The New York Times" condemned Trump's actions as "esthetic vandalism," and a spokesman for Mayor Ed Koch said Trump had failed his "moral responsibility to consider the interests of the people of the city." Scutt was outraged by the destruction, having initially hoped to incorporate the goddess sculptures into the new building's lobby design; Trump had rejected the plan, preferring something "more contemporary." Miller lamented that such things would "never be made again," and Peter M. Warner, a researcher who worked across the street, called the destruction "regrettable." However, Trump later said he used the notoriety of that act to advertise more residential units in the tower.


title: Trump Tower

text: In 1983, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the Trump Organization concerning unpaid pension and medical obligations to labor unions whose members helped build the towers. Trump had paid $774,000 to a window-cleaning company that employed undocumented Polish immigrants during the renovation of an adjoining building. According to the laborers, they were paid $4 an hour () for 12-hour shifts, and were not told about asbestos in the under-construction structure.


title: Trump Tower

text: Trump testified in 1990 he was unaware that 200 undocumented Polish immigrants, some of whom lived at the site during the 1980 New York City transit strike, and worked round-the-clock shifts, were involved in the destruction of the Bonwit Teller building and the Trump Tower project. Trump said he rarely visited the demolition site and never noticed the laborers, who were visually distinct for their lack of hard hats. A labor consultant and FBI informant testified that Trump was aware of the illegal workers' status. Trump testified that he and an executive used the pseudonym "John Baron" in some of his business dealings, although Trump said he did not do so until years after Trump Tower was constructed. A labor lawyer testified that he was threatened over the phone with a $100 million lawsuit by a John Baron who supposedly worked for the Trump Organization. Donald Trump later told a reporter, "Lots of people use pen names. Ernest Hemingway used one." After the laborers filed for a mechanic's lien over unpaid wages, they said a Trump Organization lawyer threatened to have the Immigration and Naturalization Service deport them.


title: Trump Tower

text: A judge ruled in favor of the Polish laborers in 1991, saying the organization had to pay the workers. The contractor was ultimately ordered to pay the laborers $254,000. The case went through several appeals by both sides as well as non-jury trials, and was reassigned to different judges several times. The original named plaintiff, plaintiffs' attorney, and two co-defendants died during the litigation. Judge Kevin Duffy compared the case unfavorably to Charles Dickens' fictional case "Jarndyce and Jarndyce" in June 1998, when he was assigned the case after the previous presiding judge had died. The lawsuit was ultimately settled in 1999, and its records were sealed. In November 2017, U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska ordered the settlement documents unsealed. In the settlement, Trump agreed to pay a total of $1.375 million, which, according to the plaintiffs' lawyer, was the full amount that could have been recovered at trial.


title: Trump Tower

text: There were several other controversies related to the construction process. In one case, Trump sued a contractor for "total incompetence." Construction was also halted twice because minority rights' groups protested outside the Trump Tower site to condemn the shortage of minority construction workers.


title: Trump Tower

text: Trump was also involved in a disagreement with Mayor Koch about whether the tower should get a tax exemption. In 1985, Trump was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state in the New York State Court of Appeals concerning the payment of a 10% state tax in the event that a real estate property is transacted for $1 million or more. The exemption was reported as between $15 million and $50 million. The tax on Trump Tower was upheld in a 4-to-1 decision.


title: Trump Tower

text: The City of New York granted Trump permission to build the top twenty stories of the building in exchange for operating the atrium as a city-administered, privately owned public space. In the lobby of the building are two Trump merchandise kiosks (one of which replaced a long public bench) operating out of compliance with city regulations. The city issued a notice of violation in July 2015, demanding the bench be put back in place. Although the Trump Organization initially said the violation was without merit, a lawyer speaking for Trump's organization stated in January 2016 that the kiosks would be removed in two to four weeks, before an expected court ruling.


title: Trump Tower

text: Trump maintained a connection with organized crime members to supply the building's concrete. According to former New York mobster Michael Franzese, "the mob controlled all the concrete business in the city of New York," and that while Trump was not "in bed with the mob ... he certainly had a deal with us. ... he didn't have a choice." Mafia-connected union boss John Cody supplied Trump with concrete in exchange for giving his mistress a high-level apartment with a pool, which required extra structural reinforcement. A 1992 book by journalist Wayne Barrett concludes that "Trump didn't just do business with mobbed-up concrete companies: he also probably met personally with [Anthony] Salerno at the townhouse of notorious New York fixer Roy Cohn ... at a time when other developers in New York were pleading with the FBI to free them of mob control of the concrete business." Barrett questioned some of Trump's business dealings in a "Daily Beast" article in 2011, and alleged that concrete was one of "several dozen" suspected mob connections Trump had. Trump admitted in 2014 that he had "had no choice" but to work with "concrete guys who are mobbed up."


title: Trump Tower

text: In March 2017, Trump wrote several posts on Twitter claiming former president Barack Obama had wiretapped phones in the tower toward the end of the 2016 campaign. An Obama spokesperson refuted the claims and, during a subsequent meeting with the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee that discussed the issue, FBI Director James Comey informed the committee that there was no evidence of wiretapping in the tower.


title: Trump Tower

text: Trump also claimed to own the painting "Two Sisters (On the Terrace)", an 1881 work by French Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The original work hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. In October 2017, Timothy L. O'Brien said that during his interviews with Trump for the book "TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald", he asked Trump about the copy of "Two Sisters", which was then on Trump's plane. Trump repeatedly said his copy was the genuine work, despite O'Brien's statements to the contrary. By then, the Renoir copy was hanging in Trump's penthouse office. The Art Institute of Chicago released a statement refuting Trump's claim that his Renoir copy was the genuine one.


title: Trump Tower

text: On August 9, 2016, a man posted a viral video on YouTube, claiming to be an independent researcher who wanted to speak to Donald Trump. The next day, a man (suspected to be the same person as identified in the YouTube video) climbed from the 5th to the 21st floors using industrial suction cups for aid climbing, though he was arrested after nearly three hours.


title: Trump Tower

text: Serious issues concerning safety and security in the building arose after Trump became president-elect of the United States on November 8, 2016. Trump Tower served as a rallying point for protests against Trump after the election's results were announced, requiring the deployment of security measures. Pedestrian traffic on the east side of Fifth Avenue and the north side of 56th Street was restricted, and NYPD officers started questioning pedestrians about their destinations. The block of 56th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues was closed completely to vehicular traffic, but the eastern part of the street, west of Madison Avenue, was subsequently reopened to allow local deliveries. Customers of the Gucci and Tiffany stores in Trump Tower's lobby were allowed to proceed, while other pedestrians were redirected to the opposite side of the street. During presidential visits, dump trucks from the New York City Department of Sanitation were parked outside the tower to prevent car bombs. Fire protection was also provided for the tower whenever Trump visited it. The press nicknamed the now-heavily secured building White House North, comparing it to the White House's West Wing.


title: Trump Tower

text: The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a no-fly zone over Trump Tower until January 20, 2017, and the NYPD stated that it expected to spend $35 million to provide security to the tower, subsequently revised to $24 million. As a result of the heavy security, businesses around the tower saw decreased patronage due to less foot traffic in the heavily secured area. Despite the heavy security after the 2016 election, there have been some detentions and arrests related to the increased security at the tower. On December 6, 2016, a woman reached the 24th floor—two floors below Donald Trump's office—before being stopped by Secret Service officers. A week later, a Baruch College student was arrested at Trump Tower and was found with multiple weapons. The day afterward, NYPD detained another man who wanted to meet Trump, reportedly got angry, and threw a wine glass on the lobby floor.


title: Trump Tower

text: Protests around the tower subsided after Trump's inauguration in January 2017, and by summer 2017, security measures around the tower had been loosened, as they were only in place when Trump was physically on site. However, several businesses at the tower's base had closed by then because of a reduction in the number of customers. After Trump's presidency ended in January 2021, the vehicular barricades blocking access to 56th Street from Fifth to Madison Avenues were removed.


title: Trump Tower

text: At around 5:30 p.m. (EDT) on April 7, 2018, a 4-alarm fire broke out in an apartment in the tower's 50th floor, killing a resident and injuring six firefighters. In a Twitter post, Trump attributed the fire's limited damage to the building's design. The only person to die was 67-year-old Todd Brassner, an art dealer known for his association with Andy Warhol. The residential units did not contain sprinklers because the structure had been built before 1999, when the city passed a law requiring sprinklers in residential units; Trump had lobbied against the proposal. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) subsequently announced that the fire had been accidentally caused by power wires that had overheated. The April 2018 fire followed a minor electrical fire at the tower earlier that year, which had injured three people.


title: Trump Tower

text: In July 2020, activists including New York City mayor Bill de Blasio painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in giant letters on Fifth Avenue directly in front of the building. The project was announced in response to the George Floyd protests in New York City, a series of pro-police-reform protests that started after the murder of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, in May 2020. Trump expressed his opposition to the mural after it was announced.


title: Trump Tower

text: Trump Tower served as the location for Wayne Enterprises in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises". In a 2012 vlog post, comprising one of the few movie reviews on the Trump Organization's YouTube channel, Trump referred to the movie as "really terrific" and that "most importantly Trump Tower—my building—plays a role." Other films have used Trump Tower as a filming location as well. For instance, the 2010 comedy film "The Other Guys" contains a car chase scene that has Samuel L. Jackson's character drive his car into Trump Tower. The penthouse in Trump Tower was used as a filming location for the action film "Self/less" (2015).


title: Trump Tower

text: "Trump Tower", a romance novel by Jeffrey Robinson, chronicles the sexual activities of fictional characters living in the tower. News media reported on the novel's existence during the last week of the 2016 presidential campaign. The novel was never formally published but is registered as having an International Standard Book Number. For unknown reasons, some versions of the novel are advertised with Trump as the author.


title: Trump Tower

text: Trump Tower is featured on the cover of the 1997 video game "Grand Theft Auto" and is depicted in the 2008 sequel "Grand Theft Auto IV" and its episodes "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" as Cleethorpes Tower.


title: Raisin

text: A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word "raisin" is reserved for the dark-colored dried large grape, with "sultana" being a golden-colored dried grape, and "currant" being a dried small Black Corinth seedless grape.


title: Raisin

text: The word "raisin" dates back to Middle English and is a loanword from Old French; in modern French, "raisin" means "grape", while a dried grape is a "raisin sec", or "dry grape". The Old French word, in turn, developed from the Latin word "racemus", "a bunch of grapes".


title: Raisin

text: Raisin varieties depend on the type of grape and appear in a variety of sizes and colors including green, black, brown, purple, blue, and yellow. Seedless varieties include the sultana (the common American type is known as Thompson Seedless in the United States), the Zante currants (black Corinthian raisins, "Vitis vinifera" L. var. Apyrena) and Flame grapes. Raisins are traditionally sun-dried, but may also be artificially dehydrated.


title: Raisin

text: "Golden raisins" are generally dried in dehydrators with controlled temperature and humidity, which allows them to retain a lighter color and more moisture. They are often treated with sulfur dioxide after drying.


title: Raisin

text: Black Corinth or Zante currant are small, sometimes seedless raisins that are much darker and have a tart, tangy flavor. They are usually called currants. Muscat raisins are large compared to other varieties, and also sweeter.


title: Raisin

text: Grapes used to produce raisins in the Middle East and Asia include the large black monukka (or manucca) grapes that produce large raisins.


title: Raisin

text: Raisins are produced commercially by drying harvested grape berries. For a grape berry to dry, water inside the grape must be removed completely from the interior of the cells onto the surface of the grape where the water droplets can evaporate. However, this diffusion process is very difficult because the grape skin contains wax in its cuticle, which prevents the water from passing through. In addition to this, the physical and chemical mechanisms located on the outer layers of the grape are adapted to prevent water loss. The three steps to commercial raisin production include pre-treatment, drying, and post-drying processes.


title: Raisin

text: Pre-treatment is a necessary step in raisin production to ensure the increased rate of water removal during the drying process. A faster water removal rate decreases the rate of browning and helps to produce more desirable raisins. The historical method of completing this process was developed in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor areas by using a dry emulsion cold dip made of potassium carbonate and ethyl esters of fatty acids. This dip was shown to increase the rate of water loss by two- to three-fold.


title: Raisin

text: Recently, new methods have been developed such as exposing the grapes to oil emulsions or dilute alkaline solutions. These methods can encourage water transfer to the outer surface of grapes which helps to increase the efficiency of the drying process.


title: Raisin

text: The three types of drying methods are: sun drying, shade drying, and mechanical drying. Sun drying is an inexpensive process; however, environmental contamination, insect infections, and microbial deterioration can occur and the resulting raisins are often of low quality. Additionally, sun drying is a very slow process and may not produce the most desirable raisins.


title: Raisin

text: Mechanical drying can be done in a safer and more controlled environment where rapid drying is guaranteed. One type of mechanical drying is to use microwave heating. Water molecules in the grapes absorb microwave energy resulting in rapid evaporation. Microwave heating often produces puffy raisins.


title: Raisin

text: After the drying process is complete, raisins are sent to processing plants where they are cleaned with water to remove any foreign objects that may have become embedded during the drying process. Stems and off-grade raisins are also removed. The washing process may cause rehydration, so another drying step is completed after washing to ensure that the added moisture has been removed.


title: Raisin

text: All steps in the production of raisins are very important in determining the quality of raisins. Sometimes, sulfur dioxide is applied to raisins after the pre-treatment step and before drying to decrease the rate of browning caused by the reaction between polyphenol oxidase and phenolic compounds. Sulfur dioxide also helps to preserve flavor and prevent the loss of certain vitamins during the drying process.


title: Raisin

text: According to worldatlas research, these are the top 3 countries with the highest raisin production in 2021-22. 1 Turkey with 353,167 tons, 2 United States with 332,760 tons, and Iran with 122,595 tons.


title: Raisin

text: Raisins are 15% water, 79% carbohydrates (including 4% fiber), 3% protein, and contain negligible fat (table). In a 100 gram reference amount, raisins supply 299 kilocalories and moderate amounts (10–19% DV) of the Daily Value for several dietary minerals, riboflavin, and vitamin B6 (table).


title: Choline

text: Choline is an essential nutrient for humans and many other animals. Choline occurs as a cation that forms various salts (X in the depicted formula is an undefined counteranion). To maintain health, it must be obtained from the diet as choline or as choline phospholipids, like phosphatidylcholine. Humans, as well as most other animal species, do make choline "de novo"; however, production is generally insufficient. Choline is often not classified as a vitamin, but as a nutrient with an amino acid–like metabolism. In most animals, choline phospholipids are necessary components in cell membranes, in the membranes of cell organelles, and in very low-density lipoproteins. Choline is required to produce acetylcholine – a neurotransmitter – and "S"-adenosylmethionine (SAM), a universal methyl donor. Upon methylation SAM is transformed into homocysteine.


title: Choline

text: Symptomatic choline deficiency – rare in humans – causes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and muscle damage. Excessive consumption of choline (greater than 7.5 g/day) can cause low blood pressure, sweating, diarrhea and fish-like body odor due to trimethylamine, which forms in its metabolism. Rich dietary sources of choline and choline phospholipids include organ meats and egg yolks, dairy products, peanuts, certain beans, nuts, seeds and vegetables with pasta and rice also contributing to choline intake in the American diet.


title: Choline

text: The cholines are a family of water-soluble quaternary ammonium compounds. Choline is the parent compound of the cholines class, consisting of ethanolamine having three methyl substituents attached to the amino function. Choline hydroxide is known as choline base. It is hygroscopic and thus often encountered as a colorless viscous hydrated syrup that smells of trimethylamine (TMA). Aqueous solutions of choline are stable, but the compound slowly breaks down to ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycols, and TMA.


title: Choline

text: The 2-chloroethanol can be generated from ethylene oxide. Choline has historically been produced from natural sources, such as via hydrolysis of lecithin.


title: Choline

text: In plants, the first step in "de novo" biosynthesis of choline is the decarboxylation of serine into ethanolamine, which is catalyzed by a serine decarboxylase. The synthesis of choline from ethanolamine may take place in three parallel pathways, where three consecutive "N"-methylation steps catalyzed by a methyl transferase are carried out on either the free-base, phospho-bases, or phosphatidyl-bases. The source of the methyl group is "S"-adenosyl--methionine and "S"-adenosyl--homocysteine is generated as a side product.


title: Choline

text: In humans and most other animals, de novo synthesis of choline is via the phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) pathway, but biosynthesis is not enough to meet human requirements. In the hepatic PEMT route, 3-phosphoglycerate (3PG) receives 2 acyl groups from acyl-CoA forming a phosphatidic acid. It reacts with cytidine triphosphate to form cytidine diphosphate-diacylglycerol. Its hydroxyl group reacts with serine to form phosphatidylserine which decarboxylates to ethanolamine and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) forms. A PEMT enzyme moves three methyl groups from three "S"-adenosyl methionines (SAM) donors to the ethanolamine group of the phosphatidylethanolamine to form choline in the form of a phosphatidylcholine. Three "S"-adenosylhomocysteines (SAHs) are formed as a byproduct.


title: Choline

text: Choline can also be released from more complex choline containing molecules. For example, phosphatidylcholines (PC) can be hydrolyzed to choline (Chol) in most cell types. Choline can also be produced by the CDP-choline route, cytosolic choline kinases (CK) phosphorylate choline with ATP to phosphocholine (PChol). This happens in some cell types like liver and kidney. Choline-phosphate cytidylyltransferases (CPCT) transform PChol to CDP-choline (CDP-Chol) with cytidine triphosphate (CTP). CDP-choline and diglyceride are transformed to PC by diacylglycerol cholinephosphotransferase (CPT).


title: Choline

text: In humans, certain PEMT-enzyme mutations and estrogen deficiency (often due to menopause) increase the dietary need for choline. In rodents, 70% of phosphatidylcholines are formed via the PEMT route and only 30% via the CDP-choline route. In knockout mice, PEMT inactivation makes them completely dependent on dietary choline.


title: Choline

text: In humans, choline is absorbed from the intestines via the SLC44A1 (CTL1) membrane protein via facilitated diffusion governed by the choline concentration gradient and the electrical potential across the enterocyte membranes. SLC44A1 has limited ability to transport choline: at high concentrations part of it is left unabsorbed. Absorbed choline leaves the enterocytes via the portal vein, passes the liver and enters systemic circulation. Gut microbes degrade the unabsorbed choline to trimethylamine, which is oxidized in the liver to trimethylamine "N"-oxide.


title: Choline

text: Phosphocholine and glycerophosphocholines are hydrolyzed via phospholipases to choline, which enters the portal vein. Due to their water solubility, some of them escape unchanged to the portal vein. Fat-soluble choline-containing compounds (phosphatidylcholines and sphingomyelins) are either hydrolyzed by phospholipases or enter the lymph incorporated into chylomicrons.


title: Choline

text: In humans, choline is transported as a free molecule in blood. Choline–containing phospholipids and other substances, like glycerophosphocholines, are transported in blood lipoproteins. Blood plasma choline levels in healthy fasting adults is 7–20 micromoles per liter (μmol/L) and 10 μmol/L on average. Levels are regulated, but choline intake and deficiency alters these levels. Levels are elevated for about 3 hours after choline consumption. Phosphatidylcholine levels in the plasma of fasting adults is 1.5–2.5 mmol/L. Its consumption elevates the free choline levels for about 8–12 hours, but does not affect phosphatidylcholine levels significantly.


title: Choline

text: Choline is a water-soluble ion and thus requires transporters to pass through fat-soluble cell membranes. Three types of choline transporters are known:


title: Choline

text: SLC5A7s are sodium- (Na) and ATP-dependent transporters. They have high binding affinity for choline, transport it primarily to neurons and are indirectly associated with the acetylcholine production. Their deficient function causes hereditary weakness in the pulmonary and other muscles in humans via acetylcholine deficiency. In knockout mice, their dysfunction results easily in death with cyanosis and paralysis.


title: Choline

text: CTL1s have moderate affinity for choline and transport it in almost all tissues, including the intestines, liver, kidneys, placenta and mitochondria. CTL1s supply choline for phosphatidylcholine and trimethylglycine production. CTL2s occur especially in the mitochondria in the tongue, kidneys, muscles and heart. They are associated with the mitochondrial oxidation of choline to trimethylglycine. CTL1s and CTL2s are not associated with the acetylcholine production, but transport choline together via the blood–brain barrier. Only CTL2s occur on the brain side of the barrier. They also remove excess choline from the neurons back to blood. CTL1s occur only on the blood side of the barrier, but also on the membranes of astrocytes and neurons.


title: Choline

text: OCT1s and OCT2s are not associated with the acetylcholine production. They transport choline with low affinity. OCT1s transport choline primarily in the liver and kidneys; OCT2s in kidneys and the brain.


title: Choline

text: Choline is stored in the cell membranes and organelles as phospholipids, and inside cells as phosphatidylcholines and glycerophosphocholines.


title: Choline

text: Even at choline doses of 2–8 g, little choline is excreted into urine in humans. Excretion happens via transporters that occur within kidneys (see transport). Trimethylglycine is demethylated in the liver and kidneys to dimethylglycine (tetrahydrofolate receives one of the methyl groups). Methylglycine forms, is excreted into urine, or is demethylated to glycine.


title: Choline

text: Choline and its derivatives have many functions in humans and in other organisms. The most notable function is that choline serves as a synthetic precursor for other essential cell components and signalling molecules, such as phospholipids that form cell membranes, the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and the osmoregulator trimethylglycine (betaine). Trimethylglycine in turn serves as a source of methyl groups by participating in the biosynthesis of "S"-adenosylmethionine.


title: Choline

text: Choline is transformed to different phospholipids, like phosphatidylcholines and sphingomyelins. These are found in all cell membranes and the membranes of most cell organelles. Phosphatidylcholines are structurally important part of the cell membranes. In humans 40–50% of their phospholipids are phosphatidylcholines.


title: Choline

text: Choline phospholipids also form lipid rafts in the cell membranes along with cholesterol. The rafts are centers, for example for receptors and receptor signal transduction enzymes.


title: Choline

text: Phosphatidylcholines are needed for the synthesis of VLDLs: 70–95% of their phospholipids are phosphatidylcholines in humans.


title: Choline

text: Choline is also needed for the synthesis of pulmonary surfactant, which is a mixture consisting mostly of phosphatidylcholines. The surfactant is responsible for lung elasticity, that is for lung tissue's ability to contract and expand. For example, deficiency of phosphatidylcholines in the lung tissues has been linked to acute respiratory distress syndrome.


title: Choline

text: Phosphatidylcholines are excreted into bile and work together with bile acid salts as surfactants in it, thus helping with the intestinal absorption of lipids.


title: Choline

text: Choline is needed to produce acetylcholine. This is a neurotransmitter which plays a necessary role in muscle contraction, memory and neural development, for example. Nonetheless, there is little acetylcholine in the human body relative to other forms of choline. Neurons also store choline in the form of phospholipids to their cell membranes for the production of acetylcholine.


title: Choline

text: In humans, choline is oxidized irreversibly in liver mitochondria to glycine betaine aldehyde by choline oxidases. This is oxidized by mitochondrial or cytosolic betaine-aldehyde dehydrogenases to trimethylglycine. Trimethylglycine is a necessary osmoregulator. It also works as a substrate for the BHMT-enzyme, which methylates homocysteine to methionine. This is a "S"-adenosylmethionine (SAM) precursor. SAM is a common reagent in biological methylation reactions. For example, it methylates guanidines of DNA and certain lysines of histones. Thus it is part of gene expression and epigenetic regulation. Choline deficiency thus leads to elevated homocysteine levels and decreased SAM levels in blood.


title: Choline

text: Choline occurs in foods as a free molecule and in the form of phospholipids, especially as phosphatidylcholines. Choline is highest in organ meats and egg yolks though it is found to a lesser degree in non-organ meats, grains, vegetables, fruit and dairy products. Cooking oils and other food fats have about 5 mg/100 g of total choline. In the United States, food labels express the amount of choline in a serving as a percentage of daily value (%DV) based on the adequate intake of 550 mg/day. 100% of the daily value means that a serving of food has 550 mg of choline. "Total choline" is defined as the sum of free choline and choline-containing phospholipids, without accounting for mass fraction.


title: Choline

text: Human breast milk is rich in choline. Exclusive breastfeeding corresponds to about 120 mg of choline per day for the baby. Increase in a mother's choline intake raises the choline content of breast milk and low intake decreases it. Infant formulas may or may not contain enough choline. In the EU and the US, it is mandatory to add at least 7 mg of choline per 100 kilocalories (kcal) to every infant formula. In the EU, levels above 50 mg/100 kcal are not allowed.


title: Choline

text: Trimethylglycine is a functional metabolite of choline. It substitutes for choline nutritionally, but only partially. High amounts of trimethylglycine occur in wheat bran (1,339 mg/100 g), toasted wheat germ (1,240 mg/100 g) and spinach (600–645 mg/100 g), for example.


title: Choline

text: The following table contains updated sources of choline to reflect the new Daily Value and the new Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts Labels. It reflects data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019.


title: Choline

text: Recommendations are in milligrams per day (mg/day). The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommendations are general recommendations for the EU countries. The EFSA has not set any upper limits for intake. Individual EU countries may have more specific recommendations. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) recommendations apply in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.


title: Choline

text: Twelve surveys undertaken in 9 EU countries between 2000 and 2011 estimated choline intake of adults in these countries to be 269–468 milligrams per day. Intake was 269–444 mg/day in adult women and 332–468 mg/day in adult men. Intake was 75–127 mg/day in infants, 151–210 mg/day in 1- to 3-year-olds, 177–304 mg/day in 3- to 10-year-olds and 244–373 mg/day in 10- to 18-year-olds. The total choline intake mean estimate was 336 mg/day in pregnant adolescents and 356 mg/day in pregnant women.


title: Choline

text: A study based on the NHANES 2009–2012 survey estimated the choline intake to be too low in some US subpopulations. Intake was 315.2–318.8 mg/d in 2+ year olds between this time period. Out of 2+ year olds, only % of males and % of females exceeded the adequate intake (AI). AI was exceeded by % of 2- to 3-year-olds, % of 4- to 8-year-olds, % of 9- to 13-year-olds, % of 14–18 and % of 19+ year olds. Upper intake level was not exceeded in any subpopulations.


title: Choline

text: A 2013–2014 NHANES study of the US population found the choline intake of 2- to 19-year-olds to be  mg/day and  mg/day in adults 20 and over. Intake was  mg/d in men 20 and over and 278 mg/d in women 20 and over.


title: Choline

text: Symptomatic choline deficiency is rare in humans. Most obtain sufficient amounts of it from the diet and are able to biosynthesize limited amounts of it. Symptomatic deficiency is often caused by certain diseases or by other indirect causes. Severe deficiency causes muscle damage and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which may develop into cirrhosis.


title: Choline

text: Besides humans, fatty liver is also a typical sign of choline deficiency in other animals. Bleeding in the kidneys can also occur in some species. This is suspected to be due to deficiency of choline derived trimethylglycine, which functions as an osmoregulator.


title: Choline

text: Estrogen production is a relevant factor which predisposes individuals to deficiency along with low dietary choline intake. Estrogens activate phosphatidylcholine producing PEMT enzymes. Women before menopause have lower dietary need for choline than men due to women's higher estrogen production. Without estrogen therapy, the choline needs of post-menopausal women are similar to men's. Some single-nucleotide polymorphisms (genetic factors) affecting choline and folate metabolism are also relevant. Certain gut microbes also degrade choline more efficiently than others, so they are also relevant.


title: Choline

text: In deficiency, availability of phosphatidylcholines in the liver are decreased – these are needed for formation of VLDLs. Thus VLDL-mediated fatty acid transport out of the liver decreases leading to fat accumulation in the liver. Other simultaneously occurring mechanisms explaining the observed liver damage have also been suggested. For example, choline phospholipids are also needed in mitochondrial membranes. Their inavailability leads to the inability of mitochondrial membranes to maintain proper electrochemical gradient, which, among other things, is needed for degrading fatty acids via β-oxidation. Fat metabolism within liver therefore decreases.


title: Choline

text: Excessive doses of choline can have adverse effects. Daily 8–20 g doses of choline, for example, have been found to cause low blood pressure, nausea, diarrhea and fish-like body odor. The odor is due to trimethylamine (TMA) formed by the gut microbes from the unabsorbed choline (see trimethylaminuria).


title: Choline

text: The liver oxidizes TMA to trimethylamine "N"-oxide (TMAO). Elevated levels of TMA and TMAO in the body have been linked to increased risk of atherosclerosis and mortality. Thus, excessive choline intake has been hypothetized to increase these risks in addition to carnitine, which also is formed into TMA and TMAO by gut bacteria. However, choline intake has not been shown to increase the risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases. It is plausible that elevated TMA and TMAO levels are just a symptom of other underlying illnesses or genetic factors that predispose individuals for increased mortality. Such factors may have not been properly accounted for in certain studies observing TMA and TMAO level related mortality. Causality may be reverse or confounding and large choline intake might not increase mortality in humans. For example, kidney dysfunction predisposes for cardiovascular diseases, but can also decrease TMA and TMAO excretion.


title: Choline

text: Some human studies showed low maternal intake of choline to significantly increase the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) in newborns. Folate deficiency also causes NTDs. Choline and folate, interacting with vitamin B, act as methyl donors to homocysteine to form methionine, which can then go on to form SAM ("S"-adenosylmethionine). SAM is the substrate for almost all methylation reactions in mammals. It has been suggested that disturbed methylation via SAM could be responsible for the relation between folate and NTDs. This may also apply to choline. Certain mutations that disturb choline metabolism increase the prevalence of NTDs in newborns, but the role of dietary choline deficiency remains unclear,


title: Choline

text: Choline deficiency can cause fatty liver, which increases cancer and cardiovascular disease risk. Choline deficiency also decreases SAM production, which partakes in DNA methylation – this decrease may also contribute to carcinogenesis. Thus, deficiency and its association with such diseases has been studied. However, observational studies of free populations have not convincingly shown an association between low choline intake and cardiovascular diseases or most cancers. Studies on prostate cancer have been contradictory.


title: Choline

text: Studies observing the effect between higher choline intake and cognition have been conducted in human adults, with contradictory results. Similar studies on human infants and children have been contradictory and also limited.


title: Choline

text: Both pregnancy and lactation increase demand for choline dramatically. This demand may be met by upregulation of PEMT via increasing estrogen levels to produce more choline "de novo", but even with increased PEMT activity, the demand for choline is still so high that bodily stores are generally depleted. This is exemplified by the observation that "Pemt −/−" mice (mice lacking functional PEMT) will abort at 9–10 days unless fed supplemental choline.


title: Choline

text: While maternal stores of choline are depleted during pregnancy and lactation, the placenta accumulates choline by pumping choline against the concentration gradient into the tissue, where it is then stored in various forms, mostly as acetylcholine. Choline concentrations in amniotic fluid can be ten times higher than in maternal blood.


title: Choline

text: Choline is in high demand during pregnancy as a substrate for building cellular membranes (rapid fetal and mother tissue expansion), increased need for one-carbon moieties (a substrate for methylation of DNA and other functions), raising choline stores in fetal and placental tissues, and for increased production of lipoproteins (proteins containing "fat" portions). In particular, there is interest in the impact of choline consumption on the brain. This stems from choline's use as a material for making cellular membranes (particularly in making phosphatidylcholine). Human brain growth is most rapid during the third trimester of pregnancy and continues to be rapid to approximately five years of age. During this time, the demand is high for sphingomyelin, which is made from phosphatidylcholine (and thus from choline), because this material is used to myelinate (insulate) nerve fibers. Choline is also in demand for the production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which can influence the structure and organization of brain regions, neurogenesis, myelination, and synapse formation. Acetylcholine is even present in the placenta and may help control cell proliferation and differentiation (increases in cell number and changes of multiuse cells into dedicated cellular functions) and parturition.


title: Choline

text: Choline uptake into the brain is controlled by a low-affinity transporter located at the blood–brain barrier. Transport occurs when arterial plasma choline concentrations increase above 14 μmol/L, which can occur during a spike in choline concentration after consuming choline-rich foods. Neurons, conversely, acquire choline by both high- and low-affinity transporters. Choline is stored as membrane-bound phosphatidylcholine, which can then be used for acetylcholine neurotransmitter synthesis later. Acetylcholine is formed as needed, travels across the synapse, and transmits the signal to the following neuron. Afterwards, acetylcholinesterase degrades it, and the free choline is taken up by a high-affinity transporter into the neuron again.


title: Choline

text: Choline chloride and choline bitartrate are used in dietary supplements. Bitartrate is used more often due to its lower hygroscopicity. Certain choline salts are used to supplement chicken, turkey and some other animal feeds. Some salts are also used as industrial chemicals: for example, in photolithography to remove photoresist. Choline theophyllinate and choline salicylate are used as medicines, as well as structural analogs, like methacholine and carbachol. Radiolabeled cholines, like C-choline, are used in medical imaging. Other commercially used salts include tricholine citrate and choline bicarbonate.


title: Choline

text: Hundreds of choline antagonists and enzyme inhibitors have been developed for research purposes. Aminomethylpropanol is among the first ones used as a research tool. It inhibits choline and trimethylglycine synthesis. It is able to induce choline deficiency that in turn results in fatty liver in rodents. Diethanolamine is another such compound, but also an environmental pollutant. "N"-cyclohexylcholine inhibits choline uptake primarily in brains. Hemicholinium-3 is a more general inhibitor, but also moderately inhibits choline kinases. More specific choline kinase inhibitors have also been developed. Trimethylglycine synthesis inhibitors also exist: carboxybutylhomocysteine is an example of a specific BHMT inhibitor.


title: Choline

text: The cholinergic hypothesis of dementia has not only lead to medicinal acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, but also to a variety of acetylcholine inhibitors. Examples of such inhibiting research chemicals include triethylcholine, homocholine and many other "N"-ethyl derivates of choline, which are false neurotransmitter analogs of acetylcholine. Choline acetyltransferase inhibitors have also been developed.


title: Choline

text: In 1849, Adolph Strecker was the first to isolate choline from pig bile. In 1852, L. Babo and M. Hirschbrunn extracted choline from white mustard seeds and named it "sinkaline". In 1862, Strecker repeated his experiment with pig and ox bile, calling the substance "choline" for the first time after the Greek word for bile, "chole", and identifying it with the chemical formula CHNO. In 1850, Theodore Nicolas Gobley extracted from the brains and roe of carps a substance he named "lecithin" after the Greek word for egg yolk, "lekithos", showing in 1874 that it was a mixture of phosphatidylcholines.


title: Choline

text: In 1865, Oscar Liebreich isolated ""neurine"" from animal brains. The structural formulas of acetylcholine and Liebreich's "neurine" were resolved by Adolf von Baeyer in 1867. Later that year "neurine" and sinkaline were shown to be the same substances as Strecker's choline. Thus, Bayer was the first to resolve the structure of choline. The compound now known as neurine is unrelated to choline.


title: Choline

text: In the early 1930s, Charles Best and colleagues noted that fatty liver in rats on a special diet and diabetic dogs could be prevented by feeding them lecithin, proving in 1932 that choline in lecithin was solely responsible for this preventive effect. In 1998, the US National Academy of Medicine reported their first recommendations for choline in the human diet.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: Farewell Yellow Brick Road is an ongoing tour by English musician Elton John that began in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 8 September 2018. It is intended to be John's final tour and will consist of more than 300 concerts worldwide. By the end of the first leg of the tour on 18 March 2019, it had grossed over $125 million and won a Billboard Music Award in the category Top Rock Tour. The tour's name and its poster reference John's 1973 album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: According to "Billboard", the tour has grossed $749.9 million from over 5 million ticket sales through November 2022. The tour currently ranks as the second highest-grossing tour of all-time.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: On 24 January 2018, it was announced that Elton John would be retiring from touring and would soon embark on a three-year tour. The first concert was announced to take place at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 8 September 2018 followed by an extensive tour of the United States and Canada before moving on to Europe. John cited spending time with his children as the reason for his retirement. Tickets went on sale on 24 February and within hours tickets for the first 60 shows were sold out.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: Further North American tours dates were announced on 26 September 2018. John's official website stated: "Salt Lake City, Tacoma, Memphis, Charlotte and Western Canada as well as return dates in Toronto, Philadelphia, Nashville, Cleveland and more". Thirteen days later concerts were revealed for Lille, Paris, Bordeaux and Nîmes, taking place in Summer 2019.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: A Winter 2020 tour taking place in the United Kingdom and Ireland was announced on 8 November 2018. The original announcement detailed sixteen concerts taking place across England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was later postponed to 2021, along with the rest of the second European leg and the third North American leg, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 September 2021, the European leg was postponed to 2023 after John sustained a hip injury. After it was announced in January 2022 that the tour would resume, music director Davey Johnstone stated that the band would wear masks and have tests every two days during the tour. John's first show back took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. He had to temporarily postpone two shows in Dallas after testing positive for COVID-19 and experiencing mild symptoms, and resumed the tour again after making a full recovery. John has tour dates across the UK and Europe for 2022 and 2023, when the tour will wrap up.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: At the 27 March 2022 performance in Lincoln, Nebraska, a live hookup was established during the concert and Elton's Oscars charity benefit, which he had not missed in 30 years of hosting, but opted to perform in Lincoln on that date because of the postponements. During the 24 September 2022 performance at Washington, D.C., United States President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden invited John to perform at the White House, where he was presented with the National Humanities Medal.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: On 2 December 2022 John announced the final leg of his UK Tour would be headlining Glastonbury festival in 2023 saying "There is no more fitting way to say goodbye to my British fans".


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: On 30 May 2018, it was announced that Elton John had partnered with "Peex" to personalise the volume for fans' concert experiences plus recording the show to relive.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: On 18 May 2022, Disney Original Documentary and Disney+ announced that John's November 2022 shows at Dodger Stadium would be recorded for a documentary titled" Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The Final Elton John Performances And the Years That Made His Legend" directed by R.J. Cutler and David Furnish.


title: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

text: Before that, the Dodger Stadium concert on 20 November 2022 was livestreamed on Disney+ as "Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium". That concert featured guest appearances by Brandi Carlile, Kiki Dee and Dua Lipa.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Continental started out as one of the smaller carriers in the United States, known for its limited operations under the regulated era that provided very fine, almost fancy, service against the larger majors in important point-to-point markets, the largest of which was Chicago/Los Angeles. However, deregulation in 1978 changed the competitive landscape and realities, as noted by Smithsonian Airline Historian R. E. G. Davies, "Unfortunately, the policies that had been successful for more than forty years under (Robert) Six's cavalier style of management were suddenly laid bare as the cold winds of airline deregulation changed all the rules—specifically, the balance between revenues and expenditures."


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 1981, Texas International Airlines acquired a controlling interest in Continental. The companies were merged in 1982, moved to Houston, and grew into one of the country's largest carriers despite facing financial and labor issues, eventually becoming one of the more successful airlines in the United States.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Continental and United Airlines merged in an $8.5 billion all-stock merger of equals on October 1, 2010. Continental's shareholders received 1.05 per share in United stock for each Continental share they owned. Upon completion of the acquisition, UAL Corporation changed their name to United Continental Holdings. During the integration period, each airline ran a separate operation under the direction of a combined leadership team, based in Chicago. The integration was completed on March 3, 2012. Although the merged airline retained the United name, it uses Continental's operating certificate and livery. On June 27, 2019, United changed its parent company name from United Continental Holdings to United Airlines Holdings.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Varney Speed Lines (named after one of its initial owners, Walter T. Varney, who was also a founder of United Airlines) was formed in 1934, operating airmail and passenger services in the American Southwest over a route originating from El Paso and extending through Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas, New Mexico, to Pueblo, Colorado. The airline commenced operations with the Lockheed Vega, a single-engine plane that carried four passengers. Varney was awarded a 17-cent-rate airmail contract between Pueblo and El Paso; it carried passengers as a sideline. Following cancellation of all domestic airmail contracts by the Roosevelt administration in 1934, Robert F. Six learned of an opportunity to buy into the Southwest Division of Varney Speed Lines which needed money to handle its newly won Pueblo-El Paso route. Six was introduced to Louis Mueller (who would serve as chairman of the board of Continental until February 28, 1966). Mueller had helped found the Southwest Division of Varney in 1934 with Walter T. Varney. As an upshot of all this, Six bought into the airline with US$90,000 and became general manager on July 5, 1936. The carrier was renamed Continental Air Lines (later changed to "Airlines") on July 8, 1937. Six relocated the airline's headquarters to Denver Union (later Stapleton) Airport in Denver in October 1937. Six changed the name to "Continental" because he wanted the airline name to reflect his desire to have the airline fly all directions throughout the United States.


title: Continental Airlines

text: During World War II, Continental's Denver maintenance base converted Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and North American P-51 Mustangs for the United States Army Air Forces. Profits from military transportation and aircraft conversion enabled Continental to contemplate expansion and acquisition of new airliners after the war. Among those were the Douglas DC-3, the Convair 240 and the Convair 340. The Convairs were Continental's first pressurized airliners. The airline's early route was El Paso to Albuquerque and Denver, with routes being added during the war from Denver, Albuquerque, and El Paso eastward across Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1946 Continental flew Denver to Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa, and to Oklahoma City, and from El Paso and Albuquerque to San Antonio. Each route included stops in several of 22 smaller cities.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In the early 1950s, Continental began several interchange routes with American, Braniff, and United Airlines. Routes were operated on American from Los Angeles and San Francisco to El Paso continuing onto Continental's route to San Antonio and Houston. Continental's Denver to Kansas City route would interchange onto St. Louis with Braniff Airways and United's routes from Seattle and Portland to Denver would interchange with Continental's routes onto Wichita and Tulsa. These interchange routes continued for many years until Continental was able to secure routes of its own between each city.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 1955, Continental merged with Pioneer Air Lines, gaining access to 16 more cities in Texas and New Mexico. In August 1953, Continental flew to 35 airports and Pioneer flew to 19, but Continental's network didn't reach beyond Denver, El Paso, Houston and Kansas City until April 1957 when it started Chicago-Denver-Los Angeles, two Douglas DC-7Bs a day each way. Pioneer's Executive Vice President Harding Luther Lawrence arrived at Continental as a result of the merger. Bob Six commented on more than one occasion that, "the reason we bought Pioneer was to get Harding." Harding Lawrence implemented several innovative changes at Continental as well as a flamboyant advertising campaign during his ten years as Six's protege. During Lawrence's tenure Continental grew by 500 percent. Lawrence left Continental in April 1965 to head Braniff Airways.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Six petitioned the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for longer routes to larger cities, hoping to transform the regional into a trunkline like United Airlines, TWA, and American Airlines. He was discussing with Boeing for Continental to become one of the first to operate the soon-to-be-launched 707. The timing was crucial, since new routes would justify the 707s, and vice versa.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Continental Airlines had seen a broad expansion of its routes, thanks to a responsive CAB and persistent efforts by Six and Executive Vice President Harding Lawrence (who came to Continental in the Pioneer merger), who both frequently referred to his company as "the Airline that needs to grow." In 1958 Continental began turboprop flights with the Vickers Viscount on the new medium-haul routes. The CAB permitted Continental to drop service at many smaller cities, enabling the carrier's new aircraft to operate more economically on longer flights. In 1960 Continental flew more than three times the passenger-miles it had in 1956. ("Aviation Week" June 22, 1959: "Continental's current re-equipment program — involving a total cost of $64 million for the Boeings, Viscounts and DC-7Bs — was launched in 1955 when the carrier's net worth amounted to $5.5 million.")


title: Continental Airlines

text: During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Six was the airline industry's leading lower-fare advocate. He predicted that increased traffic, not higher fares, was the answer to the airline industry's problems. To amazement from the industry, he introduced the 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%. Continental took delivery of the first of five 707-124s in spring 1959, and started Chicago-Los Angeles nonstop on June 8. Having so few jets, Continental needed radical innovations to the 707 maintenance program. It developed the "progressive maintenance" program, which enabled Continental to fly its 707 fleet seven days a week, achieving greater aircraft utilization than any other jet operator in the industry. 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".


title: Continental Airlines

text: In the early 1960s, Continental added flights from Los Angeles to Houston, nonstop as well as via Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, Midland-Odessa, Austin, and/or San Antonio. In 1963, the company headquarters moved from Denver to Los Angeles. By late 1963, Continental had discontinued service to most of its smaller cities in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas with the exception of Lawton, OK and Wichita Falls, TX which continued operating with DC-9 and 727 jets until 1977. Total passenger-miles in 1967 were more than five times greater than in 1960, but 61% of the 1967 total was on unscheduled flights (mostly transpacific charters). During the late 1960s the company disposed of the last of its turboprop and piston-powered aircraft—one of the first U.S. airlines to do so. Continental replaced the Viscount fleet with Douglas DC-9-10s and then added Boeing 727-100s and 727-200s. The DC-9 and 727 were to become the workhorses of the fleet from the late 1960s. The DC-9s were phased out by the late 1970s (although the type reappeared after mergers in the 1980s with an example being Texas International Airlines DC-9s which were added to the CO fleet); the 727-200 was the mainstay of its narrow-body fleet until the late 1980s. In 1968 a new livery was launched: orange and gold cheatlines on a white fuselage; and a black "jetstream" logo (by Six's friend, the noted graphic designer Saul Bass) on the iconic "Golden Tails" of the airline's aircraft. The slogans adopted in 1968 and used for more than a decade were, "The Airline That Pride Built" and, "The Proud Bird with the Golden Tail". 1960s saw international routes awarded to Continental (to New Zealand and Australia) in the Transpacific Case, but they were cancelled by the Nixon Administration.


title: Continental Airlines

text: During the Vietnam War, Continental provided extensive cargo and troop transportation for United States Army and Marine Corps forces to Asian and the Pacific bases. Continental's long range Boeing 707-324Cs were the most common non-military aircraft transiting Saigon Tan Son Nhat airport; in 1967, 39% of CO's passenger-miles were on scheduled flights. With Continental's experience in Pacific operations, the carrier formed subsidiary Air Micronesia in May 1968, inaugurating island hopping routes between Yap/Saipan/Guam, Majuro, Rota, Truk, Ponape (Pohnpei) and Honolulu. "Air Mike", as it was known, initially operated with Boeing 727-100 aircraft with open-ocean survival gear, doppler radar, and a large complement of spare parts (including tires). A senior mechanic flew on every Air Mike flight until the late 1970s. Air Micronesia operated as subsidiary Continental Micronesia until 2010. In September 1969, Continental began flights from Los Angeles to Honolulu/Hilo and one month later from Albuquerque to Chicago, San Antonio, and San Francisco. In 1970, Continental was awarded routes from Seattle and Portland to San Jose, Hollywood-Burbank Airport, and Ontario, California—all of them growing markets.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 1963, Continental denied employment to African-American pilot and Air Force veteran, Marlon D. Green. A United States Supreme Court decision allowed a Colorado anti-discrimination law to be applied to his case against Continental. Green flew with Continental for 13 years from 1965 until his retirement in 1978. His employment paved the way for the hiring of ethnic-minority pilots by all U.S. carriers, an industry milestone which was finally realized in 1977 after Southern Airways hired their first minority pilot.


title: Continental Airlines

text: At Six's insistence, Continental (with Pan Am and Trans World Airlines) was one of the three launch airlines for the Boeing 747. On June 26, 1970, Continental became the second carrier (after TWA) to put the 747 into U.S. domestic service. Its upper-deck first class lounge and main deck "Polynesian Pub" won awards worldwide for the most refined cabin interior among all airlines, as did meal services developed by Continental's Cordon Bleu-trained executive chef, Lucien DeKeyser. Continental's 747 services from Chicago and Denver to Los Angeles and Honolulu set the standard for service in the western U.S. On June 1, 1972, Continental's widebody DC-10 service began. Six had insisted that Continental place a large order for DC-10s with manufacturer McDonnell Douglas. This decision again proved prescient, since the publicity associated with Continental's splashy 747 service Chicago-Denver-Los Angeles-Honolulu had stimulated increased market share and increased traffic for all carriers. Denver, Houston and Seattle were growing rapidly in the 1970s; the DC-10s took over most flights between Denver and Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Seattle, and between Houston and Los Angeles.


title: Continental Airlines

text: During the 1970s, Denver served as the airline's main hub. The 747s were focused on the Chicago-Los Angeles-Honolulu routes, with one daily round trip through Denver. The DC-10s served large markets (Los Angeles to Chicago, Denver, Houston and Honolulu; and from Denver to Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Houston). DC-9s and 727s predominated elsewhere and added frequencies on DC-10 routes. Next to Braniff, Continental operated fewer aircraft types (four: the 747, DC-10, 727-200, and DC-9-10) during this period than any U.S. trunkline, affording savings in parts, maintenance, and crew training. The DC-10 enabled the airline to capitalize on traffic growth in the west. Continental saw market share grow annually in each DC-10 market through the 1970s, until relative market parity was achieved with United, the principal competitor on most of the DC-10 routes. The same innovations introduced on the 747s appeared on Continental's DC-10s, including the "Polynesian Pub", but after the 1973 oil crisis more seats were needed and the DC-10 pubs were removed. Continental phased out its 747s in 1978 in favor of the DC-10s (747s would return to Continental during the Lorenzo era, flying Newark to London and Paris). From the mid-1970s until it merged with Texas International, Continental operated only DC-10s, 727-100s, and 727-200s.


title: Continental Airlines

text: From 1961 to 1982, Continental was headquartered at the west end of the Los Angeles International Airport on World Way West. The facility included the general offices, system operations control, the central maintenance facility, flight kitchen, and Los Angeles crew bases.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 1974, after years of delays and legal proceedings, Continental started flights between Houston and Miami, and on May 21, 1976, Continental was authorized to operate long-sought routes between San Diego and Denver. President Jimmy Carter and Civil Aeronautics Board chairman Alfred Kahn had been promoting deregulation of the airline industry, which would dissolve the CAB and for the first time in industry history allow U.S. carriers to determine without government supervision where they would fly, and how much they could charge. Continental began flights from Denver to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa/St. Petersburg in Florida. That year, President Carter authorized Continental to begin daily round trips between Air Micronesia destination Saipan and Japan, and approved a route for Continental from Los Angeles to Australia via Honolulu, American Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. The South Pacific service began May 1, 1979. After the 1978 passage of the Airline Deregulation Act Continental embarked on a route expansion. October 1978 saw Continental begin flights from the New York area airports to Houston and Denver, and from Denver to Phoenix. That month Continental started DC-10 flights between Los Angeles and Taipei, via Honolulu and Guam. Service between Houston and Washington, D.C., began in January 1979. In June 1979 Continental linked Denver with Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, San Francisco and San Jose and also began Houston-Tampa service. The airline suffered in 1979 when the DC-10 was grounded nationwide following the crash of American Airlines Flight 191. Continental Airlines only operated the DC-10 and the 727 at the time, so flights to Hawaii were cancelled during the grounding. By the time of the Texas Air Corp. acquisition in 1981, Continental's post-deregulation growth had allowed it to penetrate every major U.S. airline market (and all of the regional markets) from the hubs in Denver and Houston, with the corresponding expansion of facilities at both of these airports. But that growth came at the cost of continuing losses. In Denver, Continental's rapid growth provided the final impetus for the construction of the new Denver International Airport, which would be completed almost fifteen years later.


title: Continental Airlines

text: While deregulation allowed Continental to expand into new areas, it hurt the company's existing business as consumers were for the first time able to choose lower fares over Continental's better service. In 1978 Continental and Western Airlines, which held a nearby headquarters and similar fleet, began a nearly three-year attempt to merge. The route systems would have been complementary, with little overlap; although they both served the Western states, Continental had strength in Hawaii, southern-tier and the Great Plains states; Western's strengths were in the California intrastate market, Alaska, Mexico, and the Intermountain West. Both airlines served the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain states, but along different routes from Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix. The merger attempt failed when Texas Air Corporation interceded with its acquisition of Continental. With the Airline Deregulation Act the world changed for Continental as noted by Smithsonian historian R.E.G. Davies: "Unfortunately, the policies that had been successful for more than forty years under (Robert) Six's cavalier style of management were suddenly laid bare as the cold winds of airline deregulation changed all the rules -- specifically, the balance between revenues and expenditures."


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 1981, Texas Air Corporation, an airline holding company controlled by U.S. aviation entrepreneur Frank Lorenzo, acquired Continental after a contentious battle with Continental's management who were determined to resist Lorenzo. Management teamed with unions to create a planned Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that would have doubled the number of outstanding shares without shareholder approval, thus diluting Texas Air's ownership stake and maintaining control of the airline. But management lost the legal battle to enact the ESOP without shareholder approval and with its 48.5 percent ownership stake, Texas Air could win any shareholder vote. During this struggle, in August 1981, Continental Airlines CEO Alvin Feldman died from suicide in his office and was succeeded by George Warde. In three letters left to his children, Feldman said he had been depressed since the death of his wife the previous year. Lorenzo became Continental Chairman and CEO in March 1982. He and his team viewed the company as stuck in the pre-deregulation era and in need of serious changes to be competitive. Continental was experiencing significant financial challenges both before and after Texas Air's takeover, and management showed how Continental could not compete and survive with its cost structure. The pilots union agreed to some cost reductions in mid-1982, primarily through modest productivity improvements, but there was no progress with the other unions. On October 31, 1982, following approval by shareholders of both companies, Continental merged operations with Texas International, retaining the Continental identity and offering service to four continents (North and South America, Asia and Australia) with a fleet of 112 aircraft. Continental launched its frequent flyer program, initially called Travel Bank, in September 1982, following that of Texas International Airlines in 1979, which was the industry's first frequent flyer program, and American Airlines AAdvantage program in 1981. In mid-1983, Continental relocated its headquarters to Texas International's base in Houston, Texas, which resulted in a large expansion of its hub at Houston Intercontinental Airport and extensive new routes to Mexico and the south central U.S.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Even with the cost reductions from the pilots in 1982, Continental faced a major competitive threat in 1983 when American Airlines was able to implement two-tier wage structures with its unions. American planned massive, rapid growth through new hires at starting pay 50 percent lower than existing contracts and equitable with low-cost, startup carriers and well below Continental's pay rates. American was already one of Continental's main competitors, operating a larger hub 250 miles north of Continental's southern hub in Houston and the growth that was funded by the lower pay rates was larger than all of Continental at the time.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 1983, Continental went to its unions to restructure labor costs to compete with the startup carriers and American's Plan B labor costs. After 19 months of negotiations, the International Association of Mechanics and Aerospace Workers went on strike in August 1983, even though the company was offering 20 percent pay raises in return for substantial productivity improvements. Continental was able to operate through the strike because many mechanics crossed picket lines and Continental hired new mechanics. The company continued to negotiate with the pilots and flight attendants and management gave a final proposal to its pilots in mid-September, which would have provided ownership by the pilots and other employees of 35 percent of the company's stock in return for meaningful wage and productivity changes. With no agreement, Continental filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 24, 1983, and shut down for three days.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Airline unions fought Continental at every step. On October 1, 1983, the pilots and flight attendants joined the IAM, which was still on strike. When Continental resumed service three days after filing Chapter 11, it initially served 25 cities versus the more than 70 cities previously. In the initial stages of bankruptcy, with no legal agreement that would allow travel agents to book flights, passengers could only book directly with the airline. And, with no credit card agreements, Continental could only accept cash for travel. Continental began offering flights for only $49 for each nonstop segment, raising it later to $75 on any segment. In the federal courts, the unions unsuccessfully sued to stop the company's reorganization. They were later successful in working to persuade Congress to pass a new bankruptcy law preventing bankrupt companies from terminating contracts as Continental had successfully done, but the law was too late to affect Continental. Chapter 11 saved the company from liquidation, but required substantial reorganization, which began immediately. Following bankruptcy, Continental was freed of its contractual obligations and imposed a series of new labor agreements on its union workers, sharply reducing the airline's labor costs. Continental's senior management also reduced their salaries to those of the pilots. The pilot strike was ultimately unsuccessful due to Continental pilots and new hires who crossed the picket line, and customers who voted with their pocketbook. Continental became vastly more competitive with the new airline startups then emerging and thriving in the southwestern U.S. By the end of 1984, Continental had grown back to be a larger airline than pre-bankruptcy and that year recorded a $50 million profit.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On April 28, 1985, Continental inaugurated its first scheduled service to Europe with flights from Houston to London/Gatwick. Additional service from Newark to London and Paris started after the airline's merger with PeopleExpress Airlines in 1987. With that merger came significant customer service issues, especially in the Northeast, for a period of time. In October 1985, Texas Air Corp. made an offer for a Denver-based regional carrier, Frontier Airlines, opening a bidding war with PeopleExpress, which was headed by Lorenzo's former Texas International associate Don Burr. PeopleExpress paid a substantial premium for Frontier's high-cost operation. The acquisition, funded by debt, did not seem rational to industry observers from either the route integration or the operating philosophy points of view. On August 24, 1986, Frontier filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations. With PeopleExpress losing money, Texas Air announced the acquisition of PeopleExpress on September 15, 1986, at the same time gaining Frontier, whose strong network in the Great Plains and intermountain West reinforced Continental's already formidable Denver hub. The PeopleExpress acquisition also provided the option to acquire Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport and allow Continental to build a formidable hub in the New York market.


title: Continental Airlines

text: With a reorganization plan that repaid creditors 100 percent, Continental emerged from bankruptcy on June 30, 1986, with improved asset and cash flow positions and a more competitive route structure with routes radiating to every large U.S. city from major hubs at Denver and Houston. Continental also began developing its Midwest hub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in 1986, just as United Airlines began to transfer its Cleveland hub operations to Washington Dulles International Airport in Fairfax County, Virginia. In October 1986, American Airlines senior vice president Thomas G. Plaskett became the president and CEO of Continental Airlines. On February 1, 1987, People Express, Frontier, New York Air, and several commuter carriers were merged into Continental Airlines to create the sixth largest airline in the world and became the largest low-fare airline by introducing the industry's first non-refundable airfares, initially called MaxSavers. The mergers and the aggressive marketing led to Continental becoming an even larger player in the northeastern markets. In July 1987, Plaskett resigned and Lorenzo returned to the position of CEO. 1987 saw the creation of Continental's OnePass frequent flier program (jointly with Eastern Airlines); and, in 1988, Continental formed its first strategic partnership (and the first international airline alliance of its kind) with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). Continental also made a major image change with a blue and gray livery and the "globe" logo that was adopted by the post-merger United Airlines. The airline also eliminated first class service—and only the second global carrier to take that action—giving business class passengers the same first class seats, a service change later to be marketed as Business First.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On August 3, 1990, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and Texas Air announced that Jet Capital Corporation, which owned controlling interest in Texas Air, was selling its interest to SAS. Under the agreements, Lorenzo would be leaving the active management of the airline as CEO for the first time in 18 years and would remain on the board of directors for two further years. At the same time, Hollis Harris, formerly President of Delta Air Lines, was named chairman and chief executive officer.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On December 3, 1990, due to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the resultant Gulf War, which had prompted a dramatic increase in the price of jet fuel, Continental filed for bankruptcy. In mid-1991 Harris was replaced as CEO by Robert Ferguson, who had been a Texas Air executive. In November 1992, Continental accepted a $450 million buyout offer from an investor group composed of Air Partners, an investor from Texas led by Texas Pacific Group, and Air Canada. Under the arrangements, Air Canada would have 24 percent of the voting stock, while Air Partners would hold 41 percent of voting interest in the reorganized Continental. Continental emerged from bankruptcy in April 1993.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In March 1993, the airline cancelled its services to nine U.S. destinations and six non-U.S. destinations, including all 24 weekly services between the United States and Australia and New Zealand in addition to its flights between Guam and Australia, effective October 31 of that year. In 1994, Continental substantially reduced its jet services in Denver and terminated all turboprop operations, which had been unprofitable, reducing Denver from being a hub to a spoke city.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Between 1993 and 1995, Continental experimented with an "airline within an airline" by launching "CALite", later renamed "Continental Lite", which provided all-economy, low-fare, no-frills service between primarily leisure destinations. Continental Lite operated with a dedicated fleet of 100 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30, Boeing 737-300, and Boeing 737-500 aircraft, each repainted with the 'Lite' livery and stripped of its first class cabin. The service was based primarily at Continental's existing hub in Cleveland as well as a new hub established in Greensboro, North Carolina. The experiment proved unsuccessful and was dissolved in 1995. Continental's short-lived Greensboro hub was dismantled in the process. During this time period Continental was the subject of hostile takeover bids submitted by Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Former Boeing executive Gordon Bethune became president and CEO in October 1994 and was elected chairman of the board of directors in 1996. Continental went from being ranked last in most performance categories to winning more J.D. Power and Associates awards for Customer Satisfaction than any other airline. "BusinessWeek" magazine named Bethune one of the top 25 Global Managers in 1996 and 1997. Under his leadership Continental's stock price rose from $2 to over $50 per share. "Fortune" named Continental among the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America for six consecutive years. In his final year piloting the airline "Fortune" magazine ranked Continental 2004's No. 1 Most Admired Global Airline, a title it earned again in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. While at Continental, Bethune created the Go-Forward plan, to fix problems with the airline, which included employee morale, the quality of the product, and the route structure, among others. Bethune began by ordering new aircraft in an effort to convert to an all-Boeing fleet.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Beginning in 1998, Continental again embarked on a program to expand its international operations. It inaugurated services to Ireland and Scotland, and in October 1998 the airline received its first Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, allowing non-stop flights from Newark and Houston to Tokyo-Narita, and from Newark to Tel Aviv, Israel. Continental in the same year launched partnerships with Northwest Airlines, Copa Airlines, Avant Airlines, Transbrasil, and Cape Air, and Continental and America West Airlines became the first two US airlines to launch interline electronic ticketing. In 1999, Continental Airlines started service between Newark and Zurich, Switzerland, and from Cleveland to London.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On March 1, 2001, Continental launched a non-stop service from Newark to Hong Kong, operating over the North circumpolar route. It was the first non-stop long-haul route for any airline with flying duration exceeding 16 hours. The service initiated a brief dispute between Continental, United Airlines and Cathay Pacific over rights to non-stop flights between Hong Kong and New York. On September 13, 2004, Continental entered SkyTeam alliance along with Northwest/KLM and CSA. In 2005, Continental expanded service from Newark to Beijing after being awarded the China route. Among U.S. airlines, only Delta (with its extensive network of legacy routes dating from Delta's acquisition of Pan American's European network) served more European destinations than Continental.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 2005, service to Asia was expanded as Continental introduced daily nonstop service between Newark and New Delhi, India. The success of this Newark-New Delhi route presaged establishment of a second gateway in India with the announcement of daily nonstop service to Mumbai. With the establishment of Mumbai service, Continental offers the most nonstop flights by any carrier from the United States to India. By May 2006, the carrier's passenger traffic surpassed that of Northwest Airlines, and Continental became the fourth-largest U.S. carrier. "The Wall Street Journal" reported on December 12, 2007, that Continental was in merger discussions with United Airlines. Of issue would be Continental's golden share held by Northwest Airlines and the divestiture of Continental's Guamanian hub. A deal was not "certain or imminent", with the talks being of a preliminary nature. In April 2008, at the height of oil prices, Northwest announced a merger with Delta Air Lines. This allowed Continental to buy back the golden share from Northwest Airlines, which it did. Continental then renewed merger talks with United Airlines, but broke them off again that same month.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In May 2008, Continental Airlines sold its remaining 4.38 million share investment in Panamanian flag carrier Copa for $35.75 a share, netting proceeds of $149.8 million. Continental had been a principal shareholder in Copa. In June 2008, due to national and international economic conditions, Continental cut 3,000 jobs and the CEO and president had reduced salaries for the remainder of the year. The airline also reduced capacity and eliminated 67 mainline aircraft from its fleet by the end of 2009, retiring all of Continental's 737-300s and all but 35 of its 737-500s. Continental also announced that it planned to withdraw from the SkyTeam Alliance and would join the Star Alliance in order to cooperate more extensively with United Airlines and other Star Alliance airlines. The new Continental-United relationship was characterized as a "virtual merger" in some circles.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In September 2008, Continental announced that it would commence providing seasonal non-stop service between Houston and Rio de Janeiro. The new non-stop flight was timed to provide roundtrip flight connections at Continental's Houston hub to more than 160 cities throughout the U.S., Canada, Central America, Europe, and Asia. Continental renewed its lease for around in Continental Center I. Continental announced that its fourth quarter 2008 net loss widened to $266 million on costs for pilot retirement and reducing the value of its fuel hedges. In January 2009, Continental became the first commercial carrier to successfully demonstrate the use of sustainable biofuel to power an aircraft in North America. During the demonstration flight, Continental's test pilots successfully conducted a number of flight maneuvers, and the biofuel met all performance requirements as compared with traditional jet fuel. The biofuel blend included components derived from algae and jatropha plants, both sustainable, second-generation sources that do not impact food crops or water resources or contribute to deforestation. In March 2009, Continental became the first U.S. carrier to inaugurate scheduled service between New York and Shanghai, China, with daily non-stop flights from Newark.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In June 2009, Continental Airlines took delivery of another new Boeing 737-900ER, which was painted with a retro livery to commemorate the airline's 75th anniversary. The livery, which was originally used on aircraft beginning in 1947 and is called The Blue Skyway, was selected by Continental employees. Continental flew the aircraft to its three hubs for anniversary celebration events for employees and retirees. Post-merger, United maintained the livery, but on a different 737-900ER than the aircraft originally carrying it. In July 2009 Continental began to offer DirecTV, giving customers the choice of 95 channels of live television programming, more channels than any other carrier. Continental also launched Virtual Expert technology on their website at continental.com, offering customers 24-hour support on the Web for all their travel needs. Continental was the first airline to use this technology.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Continental also planned to start seasonal nonstop service between Portland International Airport (PDX) and Ted Stevens International Airport (ANC), putting Continental in direct competition with former partner Alaska Airlines. The route was scheduled to start on June 10, 2010. On February 16, Continental, along with its wholly owned subsidiary Continental Micronesia, announced that it applied for nonstop flights to Tokyo-Haneda as part of an open-skies agreement between the US and Japan. Continental planned to begin services to Tokyo-Haneda from its New York/Newark hub in late October 2010, and Continental Micronesia planned to start service to Haneda Airport from its Guam hub. However, Haneda slots were awarded to American, Delta, and Hawaiian Airlines instead. Continental Airlines became the first airline to launch a mobile boarding pass service to London's Heathrow. The service allowed customers to receive boarding passes electronically on their mobile phones or PDAs. Continental Airlines left the SkyTeam alliance on October 24, 2009, and joined Star Alliance on October 27, 2009.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In February 2008, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines began the advanced stages of merger talks and were expected to announce their decision in the immediate aftermath of a definitive merger agreement between rival Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. The timing of the events was notable because Northwest's golden shares in Continental (that gave Northwest veto authority against any merger involving Continental) could be redeemed, freeing Continental to pursue a marriage with United. On April 27, 2008, Continental broke off merger negotiations with United and stated it was going to stand alone. Despite ending merger talks, Continental announced that it would join United in the Star Alliance.


title: Continental Airlines

text: United and US Airways were in advanced merger talks in late April 2008, following the announcement that Continental had broken off talks with United. In June 2008, CEOs of both United Airlines and Continental Airlines signed an alliance pact that led to their eventual merger. The alliance was an agreement to link international networks and share technology and passenger perks. This agreement was termed a "virtual merger" as it included many of the benefits of a merger without the actual costs and restructuring involved. The alliance took effect about a year after Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines completed their merger, as that released Continental from the SkyTeam contract and allowed for the required nine-month notice. Additionally, Continental joined the Star Alliance, as Delta and Northwest merged.


title: Continental Airlines

text: United Airlines was reported to be in serious merger discussion with US Airways in early April 2010. A "New York Times" report indicated that a deal was close. Union consent was cited as a major hurdle for negotiators to clear. On April 22, 2010, United announced that it would not pursue a merger with US Airways.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On May 2, 2010, the boards of directors at Continental and United Airlines approved a stock-swap deal that would combine them into the world's largest airline in revenue passenger miles. The new airline would take on the United Airlines name, Continental's logo and be based in United's hometown of Chicago. The new United would be run by Continental's CEO, Jeff Smisek, along with United Airline's CEO, Glenn Tilton, serving as non-executive chairman of the board. The deal received approval from US and European regulators in the summer of 2010. The shareholders of both airlines approved the deal on September 17, 2010. Both airlines had been reporting losses in the recession and expected the merger to generate savings of more than a year.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In August 2010, Continental and United Airlines revealed a new logo that was used after the merger was complete. Both carriers planned to begin merging operations in 2011 and was expected to receive a single operating certificate by 2012. Continental's air operator's certificate (AOC) was retained, while those of United and Continental Micronesia were surrendered. On the other hand, United's maintenance certificate remained while Continental's did not.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines completed the planned merger and changed the name to United Continental Holdings. Although the two airlines remained separate until the operational integration was completed by mid-2012, as of that day both airlines were corporately controlled by the same leadership. On Thursday June 27, 2019 United changed its parent company name from United Continental Holdings to United Airlines Holdings. On December 22, 2010, Continental Airlines merged operating certificates with Continental Micronesia. All Continental Micronesia flights were then branded and operated by Continental Airlines. Both carriers began merging their operations in 2011. On March 22, UCH announced that they had plans to offer Wi-Fi Service on more than 200 domestic Boeing 737 and 757 aircraft. The airlines attained a single operating certificate from the FAA on November 30, 2011. That day, all Continental flights began to use the "United" callsign in air traffic control communications which marked the end of Continental Airlines.


title: Continental Airlines

text: The new United is the third largest airline in terms of fleet size, while American Airlines is the largest. The combined airline houses a fleet of over 1,280 aircraft that features a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft: Airbus A319s, Airbus A320s, Boeing 737s, Boeing 757s, Boeing 767s, Boeing 777s, and Boeing 787 Dreamliners with orders of Airbus A350s.


title: Continental Airlines

text: At the time of the merger with United, Continental was the fourth-largest airline in the US based on passenger-miles flown and the fifth largest in total passengers carried. Continental operated flights to destinations throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Principal operations were from its four hubs at Newark Liberty International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston), Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam. The only Continental hubs to be rebranded are Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The Newark hub began the rebranding process on October 19, 2011, with all United-operated ticket counters and gates to be rebranded in Phase One; Phase Two of rebranding at Newark began in 2012 with Continental ticket counters and gates to be rebranded. On November 30, 2011, Continental officially merged with United and no longer operates as a separate airline.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On March 3, 2012, Continental's passenger reservation system and frequent flyer program was merged into United. The last Continental Airlines flight taking off was "Continental Flight 1267", flying from Phoenix to Cleveland, and arriving into Cleveland as "United Flight 1267".


title: Continental Airlines

text: United Airlines, Inc. merged into Continental Airlines, Inc., with Continental Airlines, Inc. being the surviving corporate entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of the UAL Corporation, on March 31, 2013. The name of Continental Airlines, Inc. was changed to United Airlines, Inc.


title: Continental Airlines

text: The designer Saul Bass designed the Continental "Jet Stream" logo in the late 1960s. In the 1990s, the design agency Lippincott introduced the globe logo. Before it merged, Continental's livery consisted of a white fuselage, with the globe in blue and gold, and a gray underside. The combined United Airlines adopted the pre-merger Continental Airlines livery and logo following the merger.


title: Continental Airlines

text: On October 31, 1937, Continental moved its headquarters to Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colorado. Robert F. Six arranged to have the headquarters moved to Denver from El Paso, Texas, because Six believed that the airline should have its headquarters in a large city with a potential base of customers.


title: Continental Airlines

text: At a 1962 press conference in the office of Mayor of Los Angeles Sam Yorty, Continental Airlines announced that it planned to move its headquarters to Los Angeles in July 1963. In 1963 Continental's headquarters moved to a two-story, $2.3 million building on the grounds of Los Angeles International Airport in Westchester, Los Angeles. The July 2009 "Continental Magazine" issue stated that the move "underlined Continental's western and Pacific orientation."


title: Continental Airlines

text: On July 1, 1983, the airline's headquarters were relocated to the America Tower in the Neartown area of Houston, and would remain there until they ended up relocating in 1998. Stephen M. Wolf, the president of Continental said that the company moved its headquarters because Houston became the largest hub for Continental.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In January 1997, Continental occupied of space at the America Tower. In addition it had of office space in a building in proximity to George Bush Intercontinental Airport and in a building located on Fuqua Road in Houston. The airline planned to move into a new headquarters site; originally it wanted a single site for its operations. In September 1997, the airline officially announced that it would consolidate its Houston headquarters in Continental Center I. The airline scheduled to move around 3,200 employees in stages beginning in July 1998 and ending in January 1999. The airline consolidated the headquarters operation at the America Tower and three other local operations into Continental Center I and Continental Center II in the Cullen Center. Bob Lanier, Mayor of Houston, said that he was "tickled to death" by the airline's move to relocate to Downtown Houston.


title: Continental Airlines

text: After the September 11 attacks and by September 2004 Continental laid off 24% of its clerical and management workers. Despite the reduction of the workforce, Continental did not announce any plans to sublease any of its space in Continental Center I and Continental Center II.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 2008 Continental renewed its lease for around in Continental Center I. Before the lease renewal, rumors spread stating that the airline would relocate its headquarters to office space around George Bush Intercontinental Airport due to high fuel costs affecting the airline industry; the rumors stated that the airline was studying possibilities of less expensive alternatives to Continental Center I. The parties did not reveal the terms of the lease agreement.


title: Continental Airlines

text: In 2010, Continental Airlines and United Airlines announced that they would merge and that the headquarters of the combined company would be in the Chicago Loop in Chicago. The airline has not stated how much of the of space that it leases in Continental Center I will be vacated. As of 2010 Continental had around 3,000 clerical and management workers in its Downtown Houston offices. According to Nicole Bradford of the "Houston Business Journal", some believe that the airline will vacate and leave thousands of square feet of space in Downtown Houston empty. As of 2010 Continental leases in Continental Center I, about 40% of the tower's office space. United has begun to move employees to a new operations center in the Willis Tower (former Sears Tower) and one thousand are expected by the end of 2010. As of September 2011 Continental continues to have employees at Continental Center I, which is now a former headquarters. About half of the existing employee base will remain in the building. As of September 2011 Continental continues to occupy space at Continental Center I, now a former headquarters, and another building. Half of the previous number of employees will work in Downtown Houston. Some job positions were eliminated. Some employees were transferred to Chicago.


title: Continental Airlines

text: Continental Airlines made efforts to minimize the negative environmental effects of commercial aviation. For example, the carrier invested over $12 billion for the purchase of 270 fuel-efficient aircraft and related equipment that made up part of the airline's fleet. These efforts contributed to significant reductions of greenhouse gas and noise emissions. Continental Airlines was also one of the first carriers in the world to fit winglets to as much of its fleet as it could, reducing fuel burn by 3–5%.


title: Continental Airlines

text: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Design for the Environment" program recognized Continental in 2008 for use of a non-chromium aircraft surface pre-treatment that is environmentally compatible. Continental Airlines was the first carrier in the world to utilize this technology on their aircraft. The product, "PreKote", eliminates hazardous chemicals that are usually used in the pre-treatment phase before painting an aircraft. This technology provides improved environmental conditions for maintenance employees, while also reducing wastewater.