Six at 61

Possibly because of his own size (6 ft. 4 in., 212 Ibs.), Continental Airlines President Robert Forman Six has an obsession about the company that he has headed for 30 years: he would like tenth-largest Continental to be the biggest in some aspect of the aviation industry. Last week, three days after his 61st birthday, Bob Six got his wish. At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Continental's president dedicated a new $6,500,000 air-cargo terminal that is the biggest such structure in the world. If it were picked up, straightened out and moved to downtown Chicago, the new terminal would stretch for four blocks in the Loop.

Continental has rented space in the terminal to eleven airlines that make international flights. Thus Six's line will be in a position to handle more of the overseas air cargo that now flies directly into Chicago for redistribution rather than setting down in San Francisco or New York. At the same time, in such company Continental's name will become a little more familiar abroad. That will be just fine with Six, who has big ambitions to make his airline an international carrier too.

Pacific Spines. Continental has already made some significant starts in that direction. It ranks second only to Pan American in transporting troops and equipment between the U.S. and Viet Nam, this year will do a $60 million military business. One subsidiary, Continental Air Services, does charter work in Viet Nam, Thailand and Laos; another, Bira Air Transport, provides air-taxi service in Thailand. The newest of what Six refers to as Continental's Pacific "spines" is Air Micronesia, whose planes will fly a route linking Hawaii with such well-known islands of World War II as Guam, Kwajalein, Saipan, Truk and Okinawa.

In addition to flying the island-hopping routes, Continental will build and operate six small resort hotels. "With our new aircraft and the hotel facilities," says Six, "we'll do some business all right. These islands are important to our Government and important to tourism." They are also important to Six's ambition to have Continental certified as a carrier to the Far East. His bid was turned down last month by a Civil Aeronautics Board examiner. But Six, who is a loyal Democrat and active party fund raiser, hopes that the decision will be reversed by the time the route awards are finally approved by L.B.J.

The Gadfly. Even if Continental doesn't get to fly commercially to the Orient, Six will continue to enjoy his role as gadfly. Six brags that Continental consistently leads the way in aircraft utilization, on-timesmanship and attractive fares. In his latest bit of gadding, he is trying to persuade bigger competitors to cooperate in staggering schedules and uncrowding the skies. "At 9 o'clock in the morning, everybody in the world wants to get on an airplane," complains Six. "Same damned thing at 5 in the afternoon. Sometimes they have 18 planes or more in places like Kennedy waiting end to end to take off. It's ridiculous."

Six and his wife, Actress (The Honeymooners) Audrey Meadows,* have already bought their retirement spot: a ranch in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. Predictably, it has been named the Lazy Six. But the only seat-of-the-pants pioneer still running a major U.S. airline feels that he has many things to accomplish before he and Audrey can ride off into the sunset. For one thing, Six wants to be on hand for the day when Continental takes delivery of the three huge 747s that it has on order. "I'm the guy who took a look at the DC-3 and thought it was too big to fly. So I want to see these big ones come in."

Another reason for staying is to help Continental overcome a profit squeeze. This year's first-quarter revenues were up 10%, reaching $47 million. At the same time, Continental's cost for such-things as crew training, landing fees and fuel have increased, and the company this year alone will take delivery of 20 new planes costing $89 million. In about four years, however, Six intends to start slowing down. Says he: "When I get to be 65, I want to stay active in the company, but I don't want to be on the firing line every day at that age. My Number One job will be to find a new president and build up Continental with new routes and new business so I'll have a respectable airline to turn over to a younger man."

*Six was formerly wed to California Socialite Henriette Erhart Ruggles and Songstress Ethel Merman.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.