Continental Airlines is a United States certificated air carrier. Based in Houston, Texas, it is the fourth-largest airline in the US based on revenue passenger miles. Since 1998, Continental's marketing slogan has been "Work Hard, Fly Right."

Continental operates flights to destinations throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific regions. It has more than 3,000 daily departures, serving over 151 domestic and 190 international destinations and has 85,200 employees (as of March 2007). Principal operations are from its three hubs at Newark Liberty International Airport (in Newark, New Jersey), George Bush Intercontinental Airport (in Houston, Texas), and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (in Cleveland, Ohio). Continental Micronesia, a wholly owned subsidiary, operates routes around Micronesia from its hub at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam and connects the Micronesian region with destinations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Honolulu and Cairns, Australia.

Since September 2005, Continental has been a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, in which it participates with Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Air France, Aeromexico, Alitalia and KLM; In addition to extensive code share arrangements with SkyTeam partner airlines, the airline also code-shares with Amtrak rail services to some cities in the northeastern United States, with US Helicopter which flies from Newark Liberty International Airport to Manhattan, and with SNCF French Rail to destinations in France. In January 2009, Continental announced that it will leave SkyTeam on October 24, 2009 and join Star Alliance the following day. [