Continental Airlines Boeing 737-524 WL N17640 (msn 28901) BWI (Brian McDonough), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Continental Airlines (United Continental Holdings, Inc.) (Houston) will launch daily nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Leon/Guanajuato, Mexico (BJX), subject to Mexican government approval, beginning on November 1. The daily service will be operated with a Boeing 737-500 aircraft, with seating for 114 customers (eight in first class and 106 in economy).

In addition, Continental Airlines today filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for authority to begin once-weekly nonstop service to Cancun, Mexico, from three new cities: Austin and San Antonio, TX, and Raleigh-Durham, NC. These Saturday services, which are subject to government approval, would begin February 19, 2011. In addition, United Airlines applied for authority to place its UA code on Continental-operated flights between these cities, further enhancing service options for customers traveling to Cancun.

Continental plans to operate the service with Boeing 737-700 aircraft, with seating for 124 customers (12 in first class and 112 in economy). Continental serves 30 destinations in Mexico, more than any other airline from the U.S. Continental currently serves Cancun 76 times weekly from its hubs in Houston, Newark and Cleveland. United currently serves Cancun 31 times weekly from Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington-Dulles.

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough. Boeing 737-524 N17640 (msn 28901) completes the final approach at Baltimore/Washington.