Continental Chief Says No Merger Pending

Continental Airlines has broken off merger talks with several rival carriers, choosing to continue on its current course, its chairman said in a message to employees over the weekend.

But the Houston carrier, rumored to have held talks with Delta Air Lines on a deal that would have formed the nation’s largest airline, could restart merger talks if a long-awaited consolidation of the airline industry got off the ground, Chairman Gordon Bethune said in the message, recorded late Friday.

“As you know, we’ve had discussions--and they’ve been very preliminary discussions--with many different air carriers in the recent past,” Bethune said. “I’m telling you tonight that, effective right now, we are not in any discussions, nor do we have any plan to have any discussions with anyone.”

Continental had approached Delta, which is based in Atlanta, about combining the two airlines in a deal analysts said would have launched an expected round of mergers and acquisitions in the industry. Representatives of both airlines, citing company policy, have declined to comment on the talks.

Bethune did not say why the talks with Delta and other airlines had broken down. He hinted Continental might have to change course and resume negotiating with potential partners if an alliance between British Airways and American Airlines is approved.

The British Airways-American Airlines merger won conditional approval in Britain last week but still must be approved by U.S. regulators.

Bethune is credited with taking Continental from the brink of bankruptcy to its position as one of the nation’s top carriers.