Continental Airlines today reported a record December systemwide mainline
load factor of 77.0 percent, 3.1 points above last year`s December load
factor. In addition, the airline had a record December domestic mainline
load factor of 76.2 percent, 0.8 points above December 2002, and a record
international mainline load factor of 78.1 percent, 6.7 points above
December 2002.
During the month, Continental recorded a U.S. Department of Transportation on-time arrival rate of 76.8 percent and a systemwide mainline completion
factor of 99.1 percent.

In December 2003, Continental flew 5.2 billion mainline revenue passenger
miles (RPMs) and 6.7 billion mainline available seat miles (ASMs)
systemwide, resulting in a traffic increase of 7.6 percent and a capacity
increase of 3.3 percent as compared to December 2002. Domestic mainline
traffic was 3.2 billion RPMs in December 2003, up 3.9 percent from
December 2002, and domestic mainline capacity was 4.2 billion ASMs, up 2.7
percent from December 2002.
Systemwide December 2003 passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM)
is estimated to have increased between 0.5 and 1.5 percent compared to
December 2002. For November 2003, systemwide RASM increased 5.5 percent as
compared to November 2002. If the Sunday immediately following
Thanksgiving had occurred in December this year as it did last year,
November 2003 systemwide RASM would have increased only about 3 percent
year-over-year while December 2003 systemwide RASM would have increased
between 3.0 percent and 4.0 percent year-over-year.

Continental`s regional operations (Continental Express) set a record
December load factor of 70.6 percent, 3.1 points above last year`s
December load factor. Regional RPMs were 555.1 million and regional ASMs
were 786.0 million in December 2003, resulting in a traffic increase of
46.3 percent and a capacity increase of 39.9 percent versus December 2002.

Continental Airlines is the world`s seventh-largest airline with more than
2,200 daily departures to 127 domestic and 96 international destinations
throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. With 42,000 mainline employees,
the airline has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and
carries approximately 41 million passengers per year. Fortune ranks
Continental one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America, highest
among major U.S. carriers in the quality of its service and products, and
No. 2 on its list of Most Admired Global Airlines. For more company
information, visit continental.com .

Continental Airlines editorial, based on news release distributed by PR Newswire.

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