Continental Airlines - 2nd, 5th, or 10th biggest?

[Randi]

I want to win a trip to New York, but have to answer this: Is Continental Airlines - 2nd, 5th, or 10th biggest in the world?

[Catty1]

Randi - I Googled this information. If this means biggest by number of passengers flown, then I saw two ratings of Continental at 11th.

However, in June 2006, Continental was 5th in terms of miles flown.

Did the contest specify what they meant by 'biggest'?

[Randi]

Thanks Catty1! No they didn't specify this - they should have done of course!

Well, my guess would be 5th. Either that or 10th. I think that AA, Lufthansa, Air France and possibly United are bigger. I looked at their web site, but couldn't find that kind of info. Hmm!

[Catty1]

I looked at their web site, but couldn't find that kind of info. Hmm!

LOL - I think only #1 airline would have it on their website!

I Googled 'world's biggest airlines' - thought it would be simple! lol

[Randi]

No, you're probably right about that!

I'm going to ask Jeeves.

Edit* LOL. I actually got a good site I had already bookmarked years ago: http://www.airliners.net

[Edwina's Secretary]

According to this they are number 4 in the US....so stands to reason they cannot be 2nd in the world. But is there one airline outside the US that is bigger or 5?

Interesting....

[BC_MoM]

I've never even heard of Continental Airlines. lol

[Ginger's Mom]

I assume they mean in revenue. The only thing I could find was an article from 2005 stating that Continental was the 6th largest airline in the world and talked as if this were an upswing due to new management. I tried and tried to figure out how to copy or link the article here, but couldn't figure it out. So if the trend continued, I would guess that it is #5. (?)