Continental to begin carrying U.S. Mail
Continental Airlines has inked a lucrative USD258 million, five-year mail contract with the U.S. Postal Service, effective Sept. 30, 2006. The contract includes Priority, First Class and Express mail products within the United States and Puerto Rico. Under the new contract, Continental will be the second-largest passenger airline carrying mail.
"The new contract is about performance," said Rick Banks, Continental's managing director of postal affairs. "As few as 30 minutes count, and we are excited to see that our people and scanning systems have met the mark. In fact, we are celebrating our 72nd anniversary of high-quality, uninterrupted service for USPS. It is our largest cargo customer, and the new contract is icing on the cake."
Continental's homegrown "3 Scan" mail technology system provides the needed tracking and reporting muscle to meet the stringent benchmarks of the new contract.
"Quality is woven in the fabric here, so we don't have to change clothes to meet with the Postal Service," said Jack Boisen, vice president of Continental's cargo division. "We have made substantial investments in our postal facilities, employees and technology. It's rewarding to extend our great partnership for five more years."
Continental Airlines Inc. was issued a "Strong Buy" rating on August 3, 2006, by Investrend Research affiliate ValuEngine, who said the company has the probability to outperform average market performance for the next year and exhibits attractive expected EPS growth, price/sales ratio, and momentum.
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