Continental Airlines tomorrow will inaugurate daily nonstop flights between its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Barcelona, Spain. The new route is part of a transatlantic service expansion that includes the inauguration next week of service to Copenhagen, Denmark, and that will give Continental a total of 28 transatlantic destinations.

Continental flies to more cities in Europe nonstop from the New York area than any other airline.

Though Barcelona is a new route, it isn’t the only city in Spain Continental serves. Continental has operated flights to Madrid since 1992.

“After 14 years of successful operations in the capital city of Madrid, we felt the timing was right to add Barcelona to our expanding international network,” said Jim Summerford, Continental’s vice president Europe, Middle East & India. “Having established a strong and enviable reputation for our superior transatlantic service, we have high expectations for this new route.”

Service to Barcelona will be operated with a 172-seat Boeing 757-200 aircraft, carrying 16 passengers in the BusinessFirst cabin and 156 in economy.

Flight CO120 will depart New York/Newark daily at 7:15 p.m., arriving in Barcelona at 9:15 a.m. the following day. The return flight, CO121, departs Barcelona daily at 11:10 a.m., arriving at New York/Newark at 1:55 p.m. Flying time will be approximately 8 hours eastbound and 8 hours, 45 minutes westbound. During the winter months, when demand traditionally declines, Continental will operate five flights per week on the route, reverting to daily service in Spring 2007.

The new Barcelona flights feature Continental’s renowned BusinessFirst service. This premium-class cabin is designed with extra-wide electronic sleeper seats with 55-inch/140-cm pitch, adjustable winged headrests and personal video screens. Other BusinessFirst amenities include gourmet menus, award-winning wines and champagnes, and a specially selected and trained corps of more than 200 concierges who provide personalized pre-flight and post- flight services for BusinessFirst customers.

Additionally, Continental and Air Europa of Spain operate joint frequent flyer programs and codeshare agreements, allowing each carrier to place its code on the other’s flights. Continental codeshares on Air Europa’s flights from Madrid to Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca. Likewise, Air Europa codeshares on Continental’s Newark-Madrid flights and 24 additional cities within the U.S.
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