Though the name Robert Six has largely been forgotten to history, the airline he forged has not. The man behind Continental Airlines for the best part of four decades, Robert Six turned a shoestring, three-route airline into a global empire with nothing more than sheer will and determination.
A contemporary of the likes of Eastern’s Eddie Rickenbacker, Pan Am’s Juan Trippe and TWA’s Jack Frye, Robert was instrumental in helping bring flying to the masses and put Continental at the forefront of that trend…
Early Life
Robert Forman Six was born on June 25 1907 in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. The only child of Dr Clarence Logan Six MD, a well respected local plastic surgeon, and his wife Genevieve, Robert’s origins were surprisingly humble.
Attending public schools until the age of 14, Robert then attended the prestigious Weber Grammar School (now the Weber Institute) in Stockton though elected to forgo a medical career and dropped out of school at the age of 17.
Initially, Robert found work at a local factory, which he soon left to become a merchant sailor. He hadn’t been a sailor long when he quit once again and found work as a bill collector with a San Franciscan utility company.
An often told tale is whilst he was at the utility company, he became interested in aviation and began taking flight lessons… on company time. Safe to say, when his superiors found this out, he was dismissed immediately.
But this didn’t end his passion for aviation. It arguably only fueled it. With only 10 hours of formal training, Robert was awarded his pilot’s license (No. 5772) in 1929, at the tender age of 22.
Using savings as well as some family money, Robert bought a two-seat Travel Air directly from company co-founder Walter Beech himself and founded his own company. Called Valley Flying Service, Robert offered pleasure flights and raced on the side.
Continental Airlines
Despite being quite popular, within only a few months of opening its doors, the effects of the Great Depression forced Robert’s airline into bankruptcy and Robert himself left the US for China to become a junior pilot for the newly-formed China National Aviation.
Seven years later, Robert returned to the United States after hearing about a young three-route airline, that had been founded by one of the biggest names in aviation at the time, that was in dire need of capital. That airline was Varney Speed Lines.
Founded by Walter Varney (who had also founded Varney Flying Service before selling it to William Boeing’s Boeing Air Transport, a predecessor of today’s United Airlines) and his business partner Louis Mueller in 1934, Varney had ceded control of the company to Mueller by the end of 1934 to focus on another venture called Lockheed (yes, that Lockheed).
And whilst a talented businessman, Mueller didn’t have the money, nor the same standing that Varney did, that would’ve allowed him to borrow capital to expand the airline.
Despite only operating a small fleet of Lockheed Vegas, Robert recognized the airline’s potential and asked mutual friend to introduce him to Mueller.
Using money borrowed from his father-in-law (Charles Pfizer & Co. chairman, William Erhard) Robert acquired a 40% stake in the airline on July 5 1936 and was named its general manager.
On July 8 the following year, Robert changed the company’s name to Continental Air Lines (later changed again to “Airlines”) to reflect his desire to expand the airline’s routes across the entire US.
In October, he was named the company’s new president and moved the company headquarters to Denver, Colorado to give it a more central location, making Denver Union Airport its main hub. The company would remain in Denver for the next 55 years.
Post-WWII Expansion
As with other airlines, Continental diligently helped with the war effort following the US entrance into WWII. Thanks to its central location, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) commissioned Continental to provide maintenance for aircraft like the P-51, B-17 and B-29.
The airline also won contracts to transport troops from the US to the European Theater, and Robert himself briefly served in the USAAF, planning new routes between Europe and the US which not only circumvented bad weather hotspots, but were also cheaper.
Interestingly, many of the routes planned by Robert Six were used by airlines for transatlantic flights after the war’s end. Including Continental many years later.
Back in control of Continental before the end of WWII, the airline reported record profits throughout each year of the war and was flush with capital to use for expansion.
With the acquisition of surplus US military troop transports he converted into airliners, Robert added new routes to Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque and San Antonio, serving 22 in total by the end of 1946.
In 1953, Robert Six led Continental’s acquisition of Pioneer Airlines, a deal which was finalized in 1955, adding more cities in Texas and New Mexico as well as routes to large cities like Chicago that Continental had not began service to.
By the end of the 1950’s, Robert Six’s Continental Airlines had added numerous more routes connecting the North Midwest and East, including routes such as Chicago-Los Angeles, Chicago-Denver-Los Angeles, Denver-Kansas City and Chicago-Kansas City.
Jet Age Pioneer
By all accounts, Robert was an ambitious man who’d do whatever it took to succeed. Having followed the development of commercial jet engine technology closely (as had other airline bosses), Robert was most excited when the Boeing 707 was unveiled in 1954.
Placing some of the first orders for it after launch customer, Pan Am, Robert then began petitioning the CAB for more routes so the regional Continental Airlines could compete with national airlines like United, Pan Am and TWA.
And this was a stroke of brilliance on Robert’s part.
Having pledged millions for new aircraft, Robert could now justify his demand to the CAB for more routes, whilst also justifying the acquisition of these new aircraft to the Continental board with the acquisition of new routes. Genius.
The introduction of the 707, one of the first commercial jet airliners, set the still relatively small Continental Airlines apart from its competitors. But Robert was not content merely with the luxury of jet travel in a turboprop world. He wanted more.
With jets, Robert Six had been able to cut the per seat flight costs considerably on his Chicago-Los Angeles route. This enabled him to slash ticket prices by 20% (with CAB permission) which was later matched by the “Big Four” airlines on the same route after much objection.
This cost cut boosted Continental’s profit (so much so it recorded a 10% boost in revenue in the first quarter of 1962 over the previous year) and allowed Robert to make Continental the most luxurious airline regulated by the CAB.
Innovations made by Robert included serving champagne to passengers for breakfast, offering a selection of meals passengers (before this, only one meal was served to all passengers) and having a designated crew member to make hotel reservations during the flight.
This latter innovation inadvertently began the long relationship between airlines and hotel chains, which continues to this day!
A Marketing Maverick?
For Robert Six, the 1950’s had been both a great and terrible time. On the one hand, Continental Airlines had expanded beyond his wildest dreams, whilst on the other, his love life and social standing had risen dramatically… only to come crashing down.
Having divorced his first wife (whose father had loaned him the money to acquire the 40% stake in Continental in the first place!) in the late 1940’s, Robert Six met and married Broadway icon Ethel Merman in 1953.
Despite their relationship boosting Robert’s reputation as the successful husband of an even more successful actress, their home life was not so good. By some accounts, Robert was both physically and emotionally abusive to his wife and stepchildren.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the couple divorced in 1960 and Ethel moved back to New York with her children, both to escape Robert and resume her Broadway career which she’d put on hold after marrying Robert and moving to Denver with him.
But this was not the end of Robert’s love life. In 1961, Robert met another actress who caught his eye: The Hooneymooners star Audrey Meadows. Despite their 15-year age gap, their opposite personalities attracted to each other, making a deadly combination.
The couple married later that year in Honolulu, Hawaii and by all accounts the marriage was a happy one. A stark contrast to both of their previous marriages…
Indeed, Audrey even served as an unofficial member of Continental’s board!
As the husband of a famous actress, Robert Six met numerous Hollywood legends, including James Stewart, John Wayne, Bob Hope and Henry Fonda, all of whom became regular passengers with Continental.
And this achieved what Robert had hoped he would with his first marriage. By marrying a well known actress and embedding himself with, and flying around, Hollywood’s elite, it almost acted as another marketing medium for Continental.
Whenever these famous stars flew, they always did it on their friend, Robert Six’s, Continental Airlines, so whenever the press covered their tours, the Continental logo was always visible in the background. This acted almost like an unofficial celebrity endorsement.
Many of these celebrities, especially John Wayne and Henry Fonda, made no secret of their friendship with Robert, and regularly spoke to the press about their weekend parties together, as well as how luxurious his flight had been and how Continental was better than any other airline.
Famous for its luxury already, and now with celebrity endorsements engineered by Robert, Continental became one of the most requested airlines to fly on at travel agents across the Western seaboard and Midwest.
Continued Expansion
Just as he’d done 20 years earlier, Robert and Continental once again lent their hand in wartime. Awarded contracts to transport troops and cargo, Continental transported US Army and Marine Corps personnel between US Pacific and Asian bases.
Indeed, by most accounts, Continental 707s were the most trafficked non-military aircraft at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Saigon. And yes, Continental made a small fortune off this contract, so much so it incorporated its own Asian subsidiary in 1967.
Known as Air Micronesia (later Continental Micronesia) and based out of Honolulu, the subsidiary operated island-hopping flights between Honolulu (Oahu), Yap, Guam, Saipan, Majuro, Rota, Truk and Ponape. This subsidiary continued to exist until the United-Continental merger in 2013!
But Asia wasn’t the only international routes added by Robert Six’s Continental. At Robert’s direction, Continental added routes to major European cities such as Frankfurt, Rome, Paris and London in 1967 and 1968.
Just as it had done from 1964-1967, the airline continued to report record profits.
Much like his Pan Am rival, Juan Trippe, Robert Six recognized the limits of the 707 and other early jet airliners. So when Boeing unveiled the 747, Robert Six’s Continental Airlines joined with TWA and Pan Am to become the aircraft’s three launch customers.
The first of these new aircraft were delivered in 1970 and Continental became only the second airline (after TWA) to use the 747 on domestic routes, replacing 707 services from Chicago and Denver to Los Angeles and Honolulu.
Knowing that making his airline the most luxurious had contributed to the airline’s earlier success with the 707, Robert ensured that Continental’s 747s were far more luxurious than anything the big airlines could throw at him.
Indeed, Robert outdid himself with the hiring of Lucien DeKeyser, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, to prepare in-flight meals and the development of the award winning “Polynesian Pub” in the upper-deck first class lounge.
Despite all of its success, Continental’s 747 service didn’t last long as they were replaced by more appropriately suited Douglas DC-10s.
Airline Deregulation & Loss of Control
As with most airline bosses, Robert was an ardent supporter of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Following its signing into law, Continental – as with most other airlines – expanded rapidly, going from a still very regional airline to one with a true national presence.
By 1980, Continental was running non-stop service from both its Houston-Intercontinental and Denver hubs to every single major US city, having added cities like New York, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit Tampa, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Washington, DC and more during its two year period of mass expansion. Robert also added new international routes to Manila, London-Gatwick, Melbourne, Sydney and Tokyo.
This period of expansion, however, brought an end to Continental’s long run of profitability. After all, adding new routes, staff and aircraft is not cheap. By all accounts, Continental had overextended itself and Robert Six’s cavalier style of management and approach to expansion were to blame.
You see, deregulation ended the price capping of routes which forced airlines to compete on luxury and the amenities it could offer. A competition Continental always won. Now, passengers could choose lower prices over Continental’s better service – a fact that hurt Robert’s business.
By 1980, Continental was on the brink of collapse. Merger talks between Continental and California-based Western Airlines failed when Texas Air Corporation, an aviation holding company owned by aviation entrepreneur Frank Lorenzo, acquired a majority stake in Continental.
And although Robert remained President of the company (being replaced as CEO by Al Feldman), he and Frank Lorenzo did not get along.
He, Al Feldman and the rest of Continental’s management were determined to maintain their independence from Lorenzo’s direct oversight and partnered with the airline’s unions (who were concerned about Lorenzo’s anti-union tactics) to resist him.
Hoping to dilute Texas Air’s holding in (and this control of) the airline, Continental’s unions proposed an employee stock scheme, which would see employees receive stock in the company each year on top of their basic salary.
This move was supported by Robert Six and the rest of Continental’s management, even in light of Al Feldman’s suicide earlier that year.
Sadly, this could not be implemented without being voted on at the annual shareholder meeting, which would never pass as Lorenzo was the largest shareholder and wouldn’t vote to lose control of the company he’d spent millions of dollars acquiring.
Attempts to find a back door workaround also failed and Robert Six was ousted as President by the year’s end.
Death, Honors & Legacy
Despite continued tensions between Lorenzo, the unions and Six loyalists (Lorenzo’s corporatist management style was wholly different to Robert Six’s bullish, everyman style who was as comfortable in the cockpit or the company cafeteria as he was in the board room) Lorenzo did restore Continental profitability.
As someone who was well into his seventies, Robert Six retired to his Los Angeles home, whilst his wife Audrey continued her acting career, albeit it in a somewhat reduced manner so she could spend more time with her now-retired husband.
Robert Six passed away from natural causes in his LA home on October 6 1986, aged 79. He funeral was held on October 10 at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
His death was announced by Continental Airlines in conjunction with a family spokesman to the press and obituaries were printed in aviation magazines and newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times.
Continental later went on to become one of the largest airlines in the country and merged with rival United Airlines in 2011. In honor of this, the new airline named on of its Boeing 777s (N77006) after Robert Six.
Prior to his death, Robert received numerous accolades for his work at Continental.
In 1971, Robert was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame for his development of Continental in the state’s capital of Denver, followed by his induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1980.
In June 1974, Robert was the recipient of an honorary doctorate by the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1979, he won the Tony Jannus Award for his contributions to commercial aviation.
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