Source: Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — Continental Airlines would likely keep its hub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport if the company combines with United Airlines, a former company official said.

The Cleveland hub is too valuable to abandon, especially with Continental's plans for a $50 million expansion at the airport, said retired Continental chief executive Gordon Bethune.

"Cleveland must be profitable, or Continental wouldn't be expanding there," said Bethune, who led the Houston-based company from 1994 to 2004. "Why would you stop doing things that are profitable? Cleveland's probably going to be OK."

On Thursday, The Associated Press reported that United and Continental are in advanced negotiations and could complete a combination quickly if Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines strike a deal, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

But there were still significant issues yet to resolve, according to the person, who was not authorized by the companies to talk about the deal.

Continental employs more than 2,400 in northeast Ohio and has about 240 daily departures from the Cleveland airport.

A Continental-United consolidation may lead to some overlap in the Midwest, where Chicago-based United has a hub at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

Bethune said it wouldn't make sense for the combined company to dump the Cleveland hub in favor of shifting more flights to Chicago.

"There might be some rationalization, but I don't see a huge shift," he said. "Where would you move the Cleveland traffic to? I don't see how Chicago could take much more."

Kenneth Button, who teaches aerospace policy at George Mason University in Virginia, said he could see United's hub at Denver International Airport growing at Cleveland's expense.

"The problem for Cleveland is that United has quite a bit of capacity at Denver, as it is sort of a central hub, but has not got an extensive network in the main markets served by Continental," he said.

Continental announced last September that its $50 million expansion Cleveland would add at least 70 flights by summer 2008, create 700 jobs and help relieve congestion at its Newark, N.J., hub.

The airline is receiving $16 million in state aid, including job-training help, and the city is also promising improvements to the city-owned airport.

Bill Meehan, a senior vice president for Continental, said reports of a possible deal with United haven't derailed the airline's plans for expansion in Cleveland.

"Cleveland has always been very important to us," Meehan said. "Every single day there is a new rumor. It's speculation, that's all."