For the longest time, Continental Airlines has suffered in the chase for real high flyers across the Atlantic, where it 
fleet is slanted toward 757s- with just 16 premium or Business First seats (and the rest in coach). With 55 inches of pitch, these seats up front are certainly quite nice, but they are not the kind of exclusive territory that people (or their employers) will pay thousands of extra dollars or euros for. Suddenly, though, this is a good thing. As Continental's president, Jeff Smisek, said during an earnings call late last week, "Many international business travellers appear to have shifted their flying from the front to the back. That said, the relative strength in the back isn't overcoming the weakness in the front..."
"This is a time," Smisek continued, "when were grateful for our relatively lower percentage of Business First seats versus coach seats compared to our competitors. Or put another way, we're really grateful to be flying so many 757-200s to Europe."
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