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    Continental Airlines Reports December 2008 Operational Performance

    Jan. 6, 2009
    Continental Airlines reported a December consolidated load factor of 79.9 percent, 1.2 points above the December 2007 consolidated load factor.

    HOUSTON, Jan. 5/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported a December consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 79.9 percent, 1.2 points above the December 2007 consolidated load factor. The carrier reported a mainline load factor of 80.4 percent, 1.6 points above the December 2007 mainline load factor, and a domestic mainline December load factor of 84.0 percent, 2.6 points above the December 2007 domestic mainline load factor. All three load factors were records for the month. In addition, the airline reported an international mainline load factor of 76.6 percent, 0.5 points above December 2007.

    During the month, Continental recorded a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on-time arrival rate of 63.3 percent and a mainline segment completion factor of 98.5 percent. Continental's on-time arrival rate was negatively impacted by challenging winter weather conditions throughout its operating network, including a very rare snow fall in Houston on Dec. 10.

    In December 2008, Continental flew 7.1 billion consolidated revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 8.9 billion consolidated available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a consolidated traffic decrease of 6.7 percent and a capacity decrease of 8.1 percent as compared to December 2007. In December 2008, Continental flew 6.3 billion mainline RPMs and 7.9 billion mainline ASMs, resulting in a mainline traffic decrease of 7.3 percent and a mainline capacity decrease of 9.0 percent as compared to December 2007. Domestic mainline traffic was 3.3 billion RPMs in December 2008, down 9.3 percent from December 2007, and domestic mainline capacity was 4.0 billion ASMs, down 12.1 percent from December 2007.

    For December 2008, consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) is estimated to have increased between 3.5 and 4.5 percent compared to December 2007, while mainline passenger RASM is estimated to have increased between 4.0 and 5.0 percent compared to December 2007.

    For November 2008, consolidated passenger RASM increased 1.2 percent compared to November 2007, while mainline passenger RASM increased 2.4 percent compared to November 2007.

    During the fourth quarter 2008, Continental raised $196 million in cash, after sales commissions, through the sale of 12.6 million shares of Class B common stock at an average price to the public of $15.84 per share pursuant to its equity distribution agreements with UBS Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated. Continental has concluded this offering. Including the proceeds from this offering, Continental ended the fourth quarter 2008 with an unrestricted cash and short-term investments balance of $2.65 billion.

    Continental's regional operations had a December load factor of 76.1 percent, 1.2 points below the December 2007 regional load factor. Regional RPMs were 776.4 million and regional ASMs were 1,020.3 million in December 2008, resulting in a traffic decrease of 2.0 percent and a capacity decrease of 0.5 percent versus December 2007.