Continental Airlines today
reported a January consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of
75.3 percent, 4.9 points above last year’s January consolidated load
factor, and a mainline load factor of 76.1 percent, 4.7 points above last
year’s January mainline load factor. The carrier reported a domestic
mainline load factor of 76.1 percent, 6.6 points above January 2004, and
an international mainline load factor of 76.2 percent, 2.1 points above
January 2004. All four were operational records for January.

During the month, Continental recorded a U.S. Department of Transportation
on-time arrival rate of 78.0 percent and a mainline completion factor of
98.9 percent.

In January 2005, Continental flew 5.9 billion consolidated revenue
passenger miles (RPMs) and 7.8 billion consolidated available seat miles
(ASMs), resulting in a traffic increase of 12.0 percent and a capacity
increase of 4.6 percent as compared to January 2004. In January 2005,
Continental flew 5.2 billion mainline RPMs and 6.9 billion mainline ASMs,
resulting in a mainline traffic increase of 10.1 percent and a mainline
capacity increase of 3.2 percent as compared to January 2004. Domestic
mainline traffic was 2.9 billion RPMs in January 2005, up 4.9 percent from
January 2004, and domestic mainline capacity was 3.8 billion ASMs, down
4.1 percent from January 2004.

For the month of January 2005, both consolidated and mainline passenger
revenue per available seat mile (RASM) are estimated to have increased
between 3.5 and 4.5 percent compared to January 2004. For December 2004,
consolidated RASM decreased 4.0 percent and mainline RASM decreased 4.5
percent compared to December 2003. Continental estimates the current
adverse impact on its revenue from the recent domestic fare restructuring
will be in the range of $10-12 million per month.

Continental’s regional operations (Continental Express) set a record
January load factor of 69.0 percent, 7.7 points above last year’s January
load factor. Regional RPMs were 618.5 million and regional ASMs were 896.4
million in January 2005, resulting in a traffic increase of 31.6 percent
and a capacity increase of 16.9 percent versus January 2004.
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