NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 28, 2008--Continental Airlines Inc. (B/Negative/B-3) told its employees yesterday that it will not enter into a merger, ending widely reported merger talks with UAL Corp. (B/Negative/--) and possibly AMR Corp. (B/Negative/B-3). Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said Continental's decision has no impact on its ratings or outlook on the airline. We revised our outlook on the long-term ratings on Continental to negative from stable April 16, 2008. Continental's management stated that it does not want to risk the airline's "significant cultural, operational, and financial strengths compared to the rest of the industry" in a merger. The decision could eventually leave Continental at a scale and route network disadvantage if the merger of Delta Air
