What do you care about most when it comes to an airline's service?

What do you care about most when it comes to an airline's service? Perhaps you are concerned about the size of the seat, the food, the entertainment system, or the flight attendants. Regardless of your preferences, the list could go on forever.

But what Continental Airlines wants you to remember most is the airport.

"Later this year and next, we will really start pushing to alert our Chinese customers to the fact that Newark is a premier hub in the United States and a great gateway to the country," says Walter Dias, Continental's staff vice-president of sales and marketing.

Aside from special fares and bonus frequent flyer miles, Continental's blue advertising board in China will start sending out a dual message promoting both the airline and Newark Liberty International Airport. That will make Continental the first US carrier to promote a US airport to Chinese travellers.

"Our advertising will have a Newark message talking about 'Hey, Newark is closer than JFK' (John F Kennedy International Airport), in a proper tone that promotes the convenience of the airport," Dias says.

Continental launched daily non-stop flights between Beijing and New York in June 2005 and is the only US carrier operating the route. Air China, the Chinese national flagship carrier, flies daily non-stop from Beijing to New York's JFK.

Dias says Continental's performance in China in the first year is "much better than original expectations."

But most travellers are from the US side, because they are familiar with Continental and many have joined its frequent flyer programme. The US carrier's next biggest task is to achieve some balance among its customers.

"It is easier to generate traffic from our (side) than from Beijing, where we are still pretty new. We are still introducing ourselves to Chinese travellers," Dias says.

For most mainland travellers who do not speak English, Chinese airlines are usually their first choice for flying overseas. When flying to New York, for example, they choose Air China, not only because of the Chinese flight attendants and the Chinese food on board, but also because Air China flies to JFK.

"JFK is the only New York airport I know about. It has been in all kinds of movies and TV programmes and is the gateway to the east coast of the United States," says Maggie Shen, a 28-year-old journalist in Beijing, explaining why she chose Air China for her first trip to New York last April.

"I have only heard about Newark. But it is in New Jersey and I thought it would not be convenient to get downtown," Shen says.

But in fact, it only takes about half an hour to get to Midtown Manhattan from Newark by train, which is shorter than the over one-hour train ride from JFK.

"This is part of the 'education' process and we did the same thing in Tokyo and Hong Kong when we launched flights," Dia says. The 'education' includes seminars on ticketing and travel agencies at Continental’s hub in Newark.

The city of Newark is about 15 miles southwest of New York City. The airport is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages two other major airports in New York JFK and LaGuardia Airport.

Continental is Newark's largest tenant, operating all of the airport's Terminal C and parts of Terminals A and B. It oversees the development, leasing, management and marketing of retail, food and beverage concession programmes at Terminal C. Continental has just completed an over US$1-billion expansion project at the terminal.

The terminal swept the 2005 Airport Revenue News Best Concessions Poll in the Single Terminal category, which includes awards for best concession design, best customer service, best concessions management team, most unique services and best overall concession programme. Newark also earned top honours in the Large Airport Category, and was recognized as the Airport with Most Unique Services. Airport Revenue News (ARN) and a panel of ARN-selected industry experts determined the rankings.

Last year, Newark handled about 33 million passengers, JFK about 41 million and LaGuardia 26 million.

Due to strong market demand, the first eight months of Continental's New York-Beijing route performed the best out all of the airline's trans-Pacific routes, Dias says.

Continental is applying to the US Department of Transportation for non-stop daily flights between New York and Shanghai next year.

A bilateral aviation agreement between the Chinese and US Governments in 2004 allows US carriers that now flying on US-China routes to launch a new route. United Airlines has applied to fly from San Francisco to Guangzhou next year.

Four major US carriers are currently flying to China, with Northwest Airlines and United serving the routes for two decades. Continental has been in the market for a year, and American Airlines is the most recent addition. American Airlines started flying between Chicago and Shanghai last April.

Dias believes the close economic ties between China and the United States offer a number of opportunities for airlines to grow their businesses.

"As the whole pie of the market grows, every player can get a bigger piece," Dias says.

"Our biggest advantage is that with the Newark hub, we are the largest provider of air services to the New York area."

Continental is the world's sixth largest airline and has more than 3,200 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 152 domestic and 138 international destinations. The company reported a net loss of US$68 million in 2005, mainly due to higher aviation fuel prices and increased competition from low-cost carriers.

But Dias is optimistic about the company's performance this year.

"We would like to at least break even this year," Dias says.

"We are off to a good start because we saw an operating profit in the first quarter, for the first time since 2001. That was a good milestone for us to surpass. The first quarter is usually the most difficult season to be able to financially perform well."

Continental reported operating income of US$11 million in the first quarter of this year, despite a 31 per cent increase in fuel prices year-on-year. The company had an operating loss of US$173 million in the first quarter of 2005.