Continental, which has 2,600 reservation agents, told its employees about the furloughs on Monday. The airline will not renew a third-party contract for handling calls.
The airline said an employee memo that it saw a 15 percent drop per year in call volume as customers book tickets on the Internet.
Houston-based Continental said it will offer an 'early-out' program to reservation employees who have worked at the carrier for 10 years. It will offer severance and outplacement services for employees affected by the cuts.
(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; editing by Andre Grenon)

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