HOUSTON -- Continental Airlines Corp. plans to move its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Houston by July, company officials said Friday.
Since Continental merged in October with Texas International Airlines, the corporate headquarters was divided between the two cities.
But Continental president and chief operating officer Stephen Wolf said the decision to move its executives to Texas was determined because Houston has emerged as the carrier's largest hub of operations.
The airline's maintenance and data processing center will remain in Los Angeles, where a $50 million fixed maintenance facility was built several years ago for Continental operations.
'The fifth largest city (Houston) is about to become headquarters for the sixth largest domestic airline,' Frank Lorenzo, chairman of Texas Air Corp., which owns Continental, said.
Wolf said he the company has been paring expenses to an all-time low in its attempt to reduce its operating budget and has shrunk its 'vice presidential population' from more than 50 to its present 19.
He said layoffs nationwide in the company were about 12 percent of the 4,000 Continental Airlines employees.
