Two into One

To the undisguised surprise of their competitors, two of the nation's most hard-pressed trunk airlines--National and Continental--last week announced plans to join forces. The resulting line, to be christened National-Continental, would be the fifth largest U.S. air carrier, outranked only by United, American. TWA and Eastern. The merger proposal, which calls for National stockholders to get 1 3/4 Continental shares for each National share they hold, seems likely to win quick approval from the Civil Aeronautics Board, whose Kennedy-appointed chairman, Alan S. Boyd, is an outspoken advocate of airline consolidation.

The proposed merger seems to make good economic sense. National, which does its peak business in winter, has routes running north from its Miami home base to Boston, and west through Houston to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Continental, which carries more passengers in summer, has a route system fanning out from Denver to Los Angeles and Chicago. By merging, the lines should balance out their seasonal fluctuations. And National, which lost $7,000,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30, may learn something from moneymaking Continental, which boasts the lowest break-even point in the industry.

Despite the merger's obvious advantages, some observers wondered whether any organization could survive the simultaneous ministrations of the nation's two most rambunctious airline chiefs--hot-tempered National Chairman George ("Ted") Baker, 61. and Continental's flamboyant President Robert Six, 54. Mused one veteran airline executive: "That's going to be a pair. These two are usually galloping off in opposite directions on different-colored horses." Baker and Six are now clearly on the same horse, but neither is saying who will be in the saddle. Under the merger proposal. Baker would be chairman of National-Continental and Six the president, but as yet there is no word on which will be chief executive. Also apparently still undecided is whether the new airline's headquarters would be in Denver or Miami.

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