Continental Airlines Rio de Janeiro daily flights from Houston, New Orleans soon

The United States-based Continental Airlines will launch daily, non-stop flights from its hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, the United States, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, starting August 1, 2009. Apart from this, Continental Airlines will start flights between New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, with a stop in Houston, on the same date.

According to the airline’s website, Flight CO129 will take off from Houston at 9:15 p.m. and land at Rio de Janeiro at 9:15 a.m. the next day. The return flight CO128 will leave Rio de Janeiro at 9:45 p.m. and reach Houston the following morning at 6:00 a.m.  

Seats are already available for the Rio de Janeiro flights, Continental Airlines, headquartered in Houston, Texas, the United States, said. 

The carrier said that it would operate the new service using a Boeing 767-200 plane, with 25 seats in BusinessFirst and 149 seats in the Economy class. 

Continental Airlines said the non-stop flight would be so timed as to offer convenient flight connections at the carrier’s hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston to cities throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. 

John Slater, Continental Airlines’ staff vice-president (Latin America and Caribbean) explained that “the new flight links important energy centres with convenient non-stop service,” Also, the new flight “provides the most direct routing from numerous western points being that it is the only non-stop flight between Houston and Rio de Janeiro west of the Mississippi.” 

At present, Continental Airlines operates daily, non-stop service between the airline’s New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and between Houston and Sao Paulo, with continuing service to Rio de Janeiro.