EX-99 3 f8k050102e991.htm EXHIBIT 99.2 News Release

EXHIBIT 99.1

News Release

Contact: Corporate Communications

Houston: 713.324.5080

Email: corpcomm@coair.com

News archive: continental.com/news/ Address: P.O. Box 4607, Houston, TX 77210-4607

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES REPORTS APRIL 2002 PERFORMANCE

HOUSTON, May 1, 2002 - Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported a systemwide April 2002 load factor of 73.5 percent, 0.6 points below last year's load factor. For April 2002, Continental reported a domestic load factor of 74.6 percent and an international load factor of 71.5 percent. The movement of Easter from April last year to late March this year contributed to the load factor decrease compared to April 2001.

For April 2002, Continental reported a record on-time arrival rate of 87.9 percent and a record completion factor of 99.9 percent for April 2002. The record April completion factor also tied February and March 2002 for the company record.

In April 2002, Continental flew 4.9 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) systemwide and 6.6 billion available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic decrease of 11.7 percent and a capacity decrease of 11.0 percent versus April 2001. Domestic traffic was 3.1 billion RPMs, down 10.6 percent from April 2001, and domestic capacity was 4.1 billion ASMs, down 11.0 percent from last year.

Lower year-over-year yields and lower load factors resulted in a decrease in estimated systemwide passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) of between 10 and 12 percent for April 2002, as compared to April 2001. For March 2002, RASM declined 6.4 percent as compared to March 2001.

Continental Express flights, operated for Continental Airlines by its subsidiary ExpressJet Airlines under a capacity purchase arrangement, reported a load factor of 62.6 percent for April 2002, 1.6 points below last year's April load factor. Continental Express flew 313.4 million RPMs and 500.3 million ASMs in April 2002, resulting in a traffic increase of 6.7 percent and a capacity increase of 9.3 percent versus April 2001. Under the capacity purchase arrangement with ExpressJet Airlines, Continental payments to ExpressJet Airlines are generally not affected by variations in RPMs and load factors generated by Continental Express flights.

APRIL 2002 OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE /PAGE 2

PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

APRIL

 

2002

2001

Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

3,069,905

3,434,468

(10.6) Percent

         
 

International

1,802,810

2,084,345

(13.5) Percent

 

Transatlantic

790,047

959,453

(17.7) Percent

 

Latin America

618,033

681,446

(9.3) Percent

 

Pacific

394,730

443,446

(11.0) Percent

         
 

Total Jet

4,872,715

5,518,813

(11.7) Percent

         
 

ExpressJet

313,417

293,719

6.7  Percent

         

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

4,113,429

4,620,040

(11.0) Percent

         
 

International

2,520,596

2,832,729

(11.0) Percent

 

Transatlantic

1,061,366

1,201,228

(11.6) Percent

 

Latin America

892,497

941,397

(5.2) Percent

 

Pacific

566,733

690,104

(17.9) Percent

         
 

Total Jet

6,634,025

7,452,769

(11.0) Percent

         
 

ExpressJet

500,345

457,592

9.3  Percent

         

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

   
 

Domestic

74.6 Percent

74.3 Percent

0.3  Points

         
 

International

71.5 Percent

73.6 Percent

(2.1) Points

 

Transatlantic

74.4 Percent

79.9 Percent

(5.5) Points

 

Latin America

69.2 Percent

72.4 Percent

(3.2) Points

 

Pacific

69.7 Percent

64.3 Percent

5.4  Points

         
 

Total Jet

73.5 Percent

74.1 Percent

(0.6) Points

         
 

ExpressJet

62.6 Percent

64.2 Percent

(1.6) Points

         

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

   
 

Total

72,379

80,868

(10.5) Percent

-more-

 

APRIL 2002 OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE/PAGE 3

YEAR-TO-DATE

 

2002

2001

Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

11,663,478

12,764,588

(8.6) Percent

         
 

International

7,241,657

7,868,006

(8.0) Percent

 

Transatlantic

2,907,580

3,291,074

(11.7) Percent

 

Latin America

2,669,656

2,764,217

(3.4) Percent

 

Pacific

1,664,421

1,812,715

(8.2) Percent

         
 

Total Jet

18,905,135

20,632,594

(8.4) Percent

         
 

ExpressJet

1,148,324

1,027,092

11.8  Percent

         

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

15,982,147

18,022,123

(11.3) Percent

         
 

International

9,603,305

10,889,071

(11.8) Percent

 

Transatlantic

3,866,860

4,567,993

(15.3) Percent

 

Latin America

3,550,459

3,806,091

(6.7) Percent

 

Pacific

2,185,986

2,514,987

(13.1) Percent

         
 

Total Jet

25,585,452

28,911,194

(11.5) Percent

         
 

ExpressJet

1,924,120

1,746,660

10.2  Percent

         

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

   
 

Domestic

73.0 Percent

70.8 Percent

2.2  Points

         
 

International

75.4 Percent

72.3 Percent

3.1  Points

 

Transatlantic

75.2 Percent

72.0 Percent

3.2 Points

 

Latin America

75.2 Percent

72.6 Percent

2.6  Points

 

Pacific

76.1 Percent

72.1 Percent

4.0  Points

         
 

Total Jet

73.9 Percent

71.4 Percent

2.5  Points

         
 

ExpressJet

59.7 Percent

58.8 Percent

0.9  Points

         

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

   
 

Total

280,563

333,710

(15.9) Percent

-more-

APRIL 2002 OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE/PAGE 4

PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL RESULTS

APRIL

 

2002

2001

Change

On-Time Performance*

87.9%

85.7%

2.2  Points

         

Completion Factor**

99.9%

99.5%

0.4  Points

       
         

YEAR-TO-DATE

 

2002

2001

Change

On-Time Performance*

85.8%

81.1%

4.7  Points

         

Completion Factor**

99.9%

98.9%

1.0  Points

       
         
         

PRELIMINARY RASM CHANGE AND FUEL PRICE

         

April 2002 estimated year-over-year RASM Change

(10-12) Percent

         

April 2002 estimated average price per gallon of fuel,

                           excluding fuel taxes

67 Cents

         

* Department of Transportation Arrivals within 14 minutes

** System Mileage Completion Percentage

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