Continental May Move 1,400 Jobs From LAX : Airlines: The shift of jet maintenance work would increase efficiency and trim costs, a spokesman says.

Continental Airlines is mulling whether to move most of its jet maintenance now done by 1,400 workers at Los Angeles International Airport to the carrier’s facilities in Florida or other states, a Continental spokesman said Tuesday.

Nothing final has been decided, but Continental’s recent opening of a new maintenance base in Orlando, Fla., “will have consequences for LAX” operations, said spokesman David Messing at the airline’s Houston headquarters.

The transfer of the LAX work is being considered as a way for Continental--which emerged from its second reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in April, 1993--to increase its efficiency and reduce costs, Messing said.

If the work is shifted, it would further reduce what once was Continental’s significant presence in Los Angeles. The city formerly was Continental’s home before the carrier moved to Texas in 1982.

Continental, the nation’s fifth-largest airline by passengers flown, employs 3,300 at LAX, including terminal agents and pilots and flight attendants that are based at the airport.

The aircraft-maintenance work is performed at a 60-acre hangar facility at the west end of LAX behind the international terminal, on property leased from the city’s Department of Airports.

But Messing said the “higher costs of doing business” in California relative to many other states “are not the driving force” behind the possible move.

Rather, Continental during the past year has substantially increased its presence in the eastern United States with its fledgling low-fare service called Continental Lite, or CALite. The airline thus is looking to shift its maintenance work closer to the majority of routes it serves, he said.

Continental wants “to have our maintenance support conveniently located to where our airplanes are flying,” Messing said.

Regardless, the threat of Continental’s departure comes only three weeks after airport officials and Delta Air Lines worked out a plan to keep Delta from closing its LAX operations, where about 900 employees are involved in reservations and other customer service.

A key issue in Delta’s case was that Delta, which is undergoing a massive cost-cutting effort, faced the prospect of a rent increase at LAX. Delta decided to stay after the parties agreed to try to sublease some of Delta’s space and effectively cut Delta’s rent.

But the Department of Airports vehemently denied that rent is a factor in Continental’s possible cutbacks at LAX, even though Continental currently is in negotiations with the city on how much, if any, its rent would increase.

“It’s got nothing to do with our rates and charges,” said Philip Depoian, deputy executive director of the Department of Airports. “We’ve been told . . . this is a strategic corporate decision.”

Although Continental serves LAX, Orange County and San Diego, much of the carrier’s recent emphasis has been on CALite, which is trying to garner market share in short-haul Eastern markets from rivals USAir and Southwest Airlines.

But in announcing only a modest third-quarter profit last week, Continental conceded that CALite has yet to break even. And on the same day, CALite’s main backer, Robert R. Ferguson III, resigned as Continental’s chief executive amid reports he was forced to leave because of the airline’s displeasure with its results.

* GLOBAL COMPETITION: The Clinton Administration wants international airline regulations eased. D2