EX-99.1 2 f8k010405exh991.htm EXHIBIT 99.1 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 DECEMBER 2004

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE

HOUSTON, Jan. 3, 2005 - Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported a December consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 76.5 percent, 0.2 points above last year's December consolidated load factor. The carrier reported a mainline load factor of 77.3 percent, 0.3 points above last year's December mainline load factor, and a domestic mainline load factor of 77.1 percent, 0.9 points above December 2003. All three were operational records for December. In addition, the airline had an international mainline December load factor of 77.5 percent, 0.7 points below December 2003.

Despite bad weather impacting its hub cities of New York and Cleveland over the Christmas holiday weekend, Continental had relatively few flight cancellations and maintained a systemwide mainline completion factor of 99.7 percent. The company recorded a U.S. Department of Transportation on-time arrival rate of 75.7 percent. Continental also reported a record 121 days with a 100 percent completion factor in 2004, up from the 2003 record of 104.

In December 2004, Continental flew 6.2 billion consolidated revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 8.1 billion consolidated available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic increase of 7.8 percent and a capacity increase of 7.5 percent as compared to December 2003. In December 2004, Continental flew 5.5 billion mainline RPMs and 7.1 billion mainline ASMs, resulting in a mainline traffic increase of 6.5 percent and a mainline capacity increase of 6.1 percent as compared to December 2003. Domestic mainline traffic was 3.2 billion RPMs in December 2004, up 1.1 percent from December 2003, and domestic mainline capacity was 4.2 billion ASMs, flat to December 2003.

For the month of December 2004, consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) is estimated to have decreased between 4.0 and 5.0 percent compared to December 2003, while mainline RASM is estimated to have decreased between 4.5 and 5.5 percent. December 2004 consolidated and mainline RASM performance were negatively impacted by approximately 2 points due to the movement of the Thanksgiving holiday return traffic from Monday and Tuesday in December last year to November this year. December 2004 consolidated and mainline RASM performance were also negatively impacted by approximately 2 points due to a shift in the Christmas outbound and return travel, caused by Christmas falling on a Saturday this year as opposed to a Thursday in 2003.  The return traffic will now fall in January 2005 instead of December 2004. For November 2004, consolidated RASM increased 1.1 percent and mainline RASM increased 0.8 percent compared to November 2003.

Continental ended the quarter with unrestricted cash and short-term investments of approximately $1.45 billion.

Continental's regional operations (Continental Express) set a record December load factor of 70.8 percent, 0.2 points above last year's December load factor. Regional RPMs were 663.7 million and regional ASMs were 937.9 million in December 2004, resulting in a traffic increase of 19.6 percent and a capacity increase of 19.3 percent versus December 2003.

Continental Airlines is the world's sixth-largest airline with more than 3,000 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Continental serves 153 domestic and 119 international destinations - more than any other airline in the world - and nearly 400 additional points are served via SkyTeam alliance airlines. With 41,000 employees, the airline has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and carries approximately 51 million passengers per year. In 2004, Continental earned awards and critical acclaim for both its operation and its corporate culture. FORTUNE ranks Continental one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America, an honor it has earned for six consecutive years, and also ranks Continental as the top airline in its Most Admired Global Companies in 2004. The carrier won major awards at the 2004 OAG Airline of the Year Awards including "Airline of the Year," "Best Airline Based in North America" and "Best Executive/Business Class." For more company information, visit continental.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are not limited to historical facts, but reflect the company's current beliefs, expectations or intentions regarding future events. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. For examples of such risks and uncertainties, please see the risk factors set forth in the company's 2003 10-K and its other securities filings, which identify important matters such as terrorist attacks, domestic and international economic conditions, the significant cost of aircraft fuel, labor costs, competition, regulatory matters and industry conditions, including the demand for air travel, the airline pricing environment and industry capacity decisions. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this press release.

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PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

DECEMBER

2004

2003

Change


REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

Domestic

3,206,334

3,171,033

1.1

Percent

International

2,315,964

2,012,667

15.1

Percent

Transatlantic

1,060,242

862,262

23.0

Percent

Latin America

747,891

689,897

8.4

Percent

Pacific

507,831

460,508

10.3

Percent

Mainline

5,522,299

5,183,699

6.5

Percent

Regional

663,686

555,088

19.6

Percent

Consolidated

6,185,985

5,738,788

7.8

Percent


AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

Domestic

4,157,150

4,159,219

0.0

Percent

International

2,988,186

2,575,019

16.0

Percent

Transatlantic

1,305,942

1,050,814

24.3

Percent

Latin America

1,013,272

917,322

10.5

Percent

Pacific

668,972

606,884

10.2

Percent

Mainline

7,145,336

6,734,239

6.1

Percent

Regional

937,870

786,042

19.3

Percent

Consolidated

8,083,206

7,520,281

7.5

Percent


PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

Domestic

77.1 Percent

76.2 Percent

0.9

Points

International

77.5 Percent

78.2 Percent

-0.7

Points

Transatlantic

81.2 Percent

82.1 Percent

-0.9

Points

Latin America

73.8 Percent

75.2 Percent

-1.4

Points

Pacific

75.9 Percent

75.9 Percent

0.0

Points

Mainline

77.3 Percent

77.0 Percent

0.3

Points

Regional

70.8 Percent

70.6 Percent

0.2

Points

Consolidated

76.5 Percent

76.3 Percent

0.2

Points


ONBOARD PASSENGERS

Mainline

3,622,874

3,521,076

2.9

Percent

Regional

1,200,922

1,029,802

16.6

Percent

Consolidated

4,823,796

4,550,878

6.0

Percent


CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

Total

93,796

77,507

21.0

Percent

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PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

FULL YEAR

2004

2003

Change


REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

Domestic

37,921,686

36,215,367

4.7

Percent

International

27,812,386

22,952,194

21.2

Percent

Transatlantic

13,436,594

10,575,054

27.1

Percent

Latin America

8,524,259

7,635,614

11.6

Percent

Pacific

5,851,533

4,741,526

23.4

Percent

Mainline

65,734,072

59,167,561

11.1

Percent

Regional

7,417,353

5,769,162

28.6

Percent

Consolidated

73,151,425

64,936,723

12.7

Percent


AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

Domestic

48,976,450

47,499,897

3.1

Percent

International

35,709,118

30,889,753

15.6

Percent

Transatlantic

16,624,222

13,712,654

21.2

Percent

Latin America

11,573,253

10,382,554

11.5

Percent

Pacific

7,511,643

6,794,545

10.6

Percent

Mainline

84,685,568

78,389,650

8.0

Percent

Regional

10,412,928

8,424,671

23.6

Percent

Consolidated

95,098,496

86,814,321

9.5

Percent


PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

Domestic

77.4 Percent

76.2 Percent

1.2

Points

International

77.9 Percent

74.3 Percent

3.6

Points

Transatlantic

80.8 Percent

77.1 Percent

3.7

Points

Latin America

73.7 Percent

73.5 Percent

0.2

Points

Pacific

77.9 Percent

69.8 Percent

8.1

Points

Mainline

77.6 Percent

75.5 Percent

2.1

Points

Regional

71.2 Percent

68.5 Percent

2.7

Points

Consolidated

76.9 Percent

74.8 Percent

2.1

Points


ONBOARD PASSENGERS

Mainline

42,742,598

40,612,887

5.2

Percent

Regional

13,739,036

11,445,152

20.0

Percent

Consolidated

56,481,634

52,058,039

8.5

Percent


CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

Total

1,028,409

918,712

11.9

Percent

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PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL RESULTS


DECEMBER


2004


2003


Change

On-Time Performance 1

75.7%

76.7%

(1.0)

Points

Completion Factor 2

99.7%

99.1%

0.6

Points


FULL YEAR


2004


2003


Change

On-Time Performance 1

78.9%

82.0%

(3.1)

Points

Completion Factor 2

99.6%

99.4%

0.2

Points

November 2004 consolidated breakeven load factor 3

86.4

Percent

December 2004 estimated year-over-year consolidated RASM change

(5.0)-(4.0)

Percent

December 2004 estimated year-over-year mainline RASM change

(5.5)-(4.5)

Percent

December 2004 estimated average price per gallon of fuel, including fuel taxes

1.36

Dollars

December 2004 estimated consolidated breakeven load factor 3,4

87

Percent

December 2004 actual consolidated load factor 5

76.5

Percent

January 2005 estimated consolidated breakeven load factor 3

87

Percent


YEAR-OVER-YEAR CONSOLIDATED RASM

2003 vs 2002

2003 vs 2001

November

7.0 Percent

6.3 Percent

December

2.3 Percent

14.0 Percent

2004 vs 2003

2004 vs 2002

January

1.7 Percent

6.1 Percent

February

(1.0) Percent

(0.3) Percent

March

6.1 Percent

(4.2) Percent

April

3.8 Percent

4.8 Percent

May

(2.0) Percent

1.5 Percent

June

1.9 Percent

4.1 Percent

July

2.9 Percent

9.8 Percent

August

(0.5) Percent

5.0 Percent

September

(1.2) Percent

6.0 Percent

October

0.5 Percent

6.7 Percent

November

1.1 Percent

8.2 Percent

December (estimated)

(5.0)-(4.0) Percent

(2.5)-(1.5) Percent

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YEAR-OVER-YEAR MAINLINE RASM

2003 vs 2002

2003 vs 2001

November

5.5 Percent

3.7 Percent

December

1.7 Percent

12.0 Percent

2004 vs 2003

2004 vs 2002

January

0.9 Percent

4.5 Percent

February

(2.5) Percent

(2.9) Percent

March

4.9 Percent

(7.4) Percent

April

3.1 Percent

2.1 Percent

May

(3.0) Percent

(1.1) Percent

June

1.3 Percent

1.6 Percent

July

2.8 Percent

7.8 Percent

August

(1.1) Percent

3.2 Percent

September

(1.0) Percent

4.2 Percent

October

0.9 Percent

5.3 Percent

November

0.8 Percent

6.4 Percent

December (estimated)

(5.5)-(4.5) Percent

(3.5)-(2.5) Percent

1 Department of Transportation Arrivals within 14 minutes

2 Mainline Mileage Completion Percentage

3 Consolidated load factor (including Continental Airlines and Continental Express) needed to break even on a

consolidated net income basis. Actual consolidated breakeven load factor may vary significantly from

estimates depending on actual passenger revenue yields, fuel price and other factors. Month-to-date consolidated

load factor information can be found on Continental's website at continental.com in the Investor Relations-

Financial/Traffic Releases section.

4 Charges related to MD-80 aircraft retirements increased breakeven load factor by 2 percentage points.

5 Includes Continental Airlines and Continental Express

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