Under the terms of the agreement, Trans-Colorado flights were listed under the CO designation in airlines' computer reservation systems.

Two 50-Passenger Convair 580 aircraft were leased from Sierra Pacific Airlines and painted in full Continental Express colours.

On January 1, 1987, Trans-Colorado returned to Albuquerque as Continental Express and reinstated its flights to Colorado Springs and Durango.

Alamogordo, NM was served from El Paso and one Convair 580 aircraft was used to provide service from Albuquerque to Tucson.

Continental Airlines later purchased Rocky Mountain Airways, a regional operator considerably larger than Trans-Colorado, and was also based at Denver Stapleton.

On May 13, 1987, Trans-Colorado entered into an agreement with Rocky Mountain Airways to provide it with flights under the Continental Express designation.

The contract specified that Trans-Colorado could neither be sold nor control of the voting stock transferred without the approval of Rocky Mountain.

However, the contract stated that "Continental's withholding of consent will not be unreasonable....” In the early summer of 1987, Trans-Colorado began to experience serious financial difficulties.

In a September 30 letter to a financial organization, a company official stated that "...the only cash that is paid out will be only that which is essential to fulfilling the requirements of the Continental contracts."

On December 3, 1987, Trans-Colorado's chief executive, William Mueller, wrote employees that "We have begun working on our long term restructure plan, which deals with both creditors and revenue sources.