Continental has deal with flight attendants

WASHINGTON — Continental Airlines said on Tuesday that it reached a tentative agreement for a new contract with its flight attendants.

The deal between the airline and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers comes after flight attendants voted down a previous agreement in October, saying it didn't do enough to restore concessions they had made.

The new agreement would run for 20 months and cover Continental's 9,500 flight attendants. The union said it includes a 2.5 percent pay increase for last year, with another 2.5 percent increase on Sept. 1, 2011.

Tom Higginbotham, the president and directing general chair of District 142 of the IAM, said in an interview that the new agreement has improvements to work rules, benefits, and pay. The changes were made based on input from flight attendants after the last agreement was rejected, he said. He expects voting on the new deal should be finished by mid-February.

At 20 months, the new contract is six months shorter than the earlier agreement rejected by flight attendants.

Continental is run by United Continental Holdings Inc. in Chicago, and the company is working to combine United and Continental into one airline flying under the United name. Right now the two airlines have different unions with different contracts. Eventually, they'll have to pick a single union and negotiate a single contract to cover the combined group.

Shares of United Continental rose 40 cents to close at $25.53 on Tuesday.