On Wednesday, the CEO’s of Continental and United airlines defended their plan to move Continental’s Houston headquarters to Chicago as part of their merger combination.

The CEO’s told the House panel that relocation to United’s headquarters makes good business sense.

However, Texas lawmakers, troubled by the potential loss of thousands of jobs in the Houston area, questioned whether the consolidation might end up limiting competition and result in higher fares for passengers.

Continental employs around 15,000 workers in Houston, including 3,000 jobs at the corporate headquarters.

Chairman and CEO of Continental, Jeff Smisek guaranteed the committee the loss would be rather small compared to the 86,000 jobs already lost in the airline industry. He said a precise number was not yet decided.

Source: chron Business