Continental sets transition plan

Continental sets transition plan    Continental Airlines announced that Gordon Bethune, 62, chairman and chief executive officer, has elected to retire at the end of the year. Larry Kellner, 44, Continental's president and chief operating officer, will succeed Bethune.
   The Wall Street Journal reported that Bethune was leaving earlier than expected following a long-running feud with director David Bonderman, a financier who helped lead the airline out of bankruptcy but whose ties to America West and some other airlines are seen by some as a conflict of interest.
   Continental had one of the largest operating loss margins in the U.S. domestic industry, 4.3 percent, and lost $53.5 million in the third quarter of 2003, according to the Department of Transportation.