Continental CEO To Leave Next Week

Gordon Bethune steps down as chief of Houston-based Continental Airlines next week, leaving the company in about the same shape it was in when he took the reigns ten years ago. For instance, USA Today reports, losses are on the rise. The availability of cash is fast becoming a worry and the airline industry as a whole is suffering the worst churn it's seen since deregulation. But in spite of all that, Bethune told the nationwide newspaper, ""We've got, I think, a company that works."

Ironically, however, Bethune is retiring after an ongoing, low-intensity battle with the man whose money saved Continental from bankruptcy in 1993 -- David Bonderman. He's the guy who hired Bethune as CEO in the first place. Bonderman bowed out in May, selling most of his stock and leaving Continental's board of directors, but only on the condition that Bethune retire two years early.

That has led to a major shakeup at the top in Houston, where Larry Kellner will take over as CEO and attorney Jeff Smisek will become company president. Bethune figures he's left Kellner a pretty good legacy, in spite of the myriad of problems that now face Continental.

"That's all you can give your successor. You can't give him the future, because you don't know," Bethune told USA Today.

Bethune is one of those guys admired from afar by his competitors. Take Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein, for instance. He told USA Today Bethune's "ability to rally the troops is unparalleled in the industry today." Ornstein should know -- he used to run Continental Express.

Bethune told the paper he brought two things to Continental: a knack for hiring the right people into the right jobs and solving problems that are big and wide.

What's down the road for Bethune? He rules out nothing -- including the possibility of going to work for a competitor.

FMI: www.continental.com