Texas Air Corporation

[8] In September 1983, Continental filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stating that its high labor costs prevented it from effectively competing with non-union startup carriers and the new two-tier wage scales by its major competitor American Airlines.

[9] The bankruptcy filing allowed Continental to fire 8,000 employees, and subsequently rehire a small portion of them at lower wage rates and improved work rules.

[10] With lower labor costs, Texas Air successfully restructured Continental as a low-fare carrier, and allowed it to exit bankruptcy in 1986.

[11] In the same year, the company began a four-year battle with the International Association of Machinists in an attempt to lower labor costs at Eastern.

[18] In August of the same year, Lorenzo agreed to leave the company after selling his remaining shares to SAS.

A Continental Airlines DC-9-10. This aircraft was formerly operated by Texas International Airlines before it was merged with Continental in 1982
An Eastern Airlines Airbus A300. Texas Air transferred this aircraft to Continental shortly after it acquired Eastern