Continental Airlines reports record load factor and strong year-end traffic

Business Wire, Jan 6, 1997

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1997--Continental Airlines today reported for 1996 an all-time record high single-year load factor -- 68.1 percent. The full year 1996 load factor was 2.5 points higher than 1995. In addition, the company recorded a December load factor of 67.6 percent, representing a 4.0 point increase from December 1995.

In December 1996, Continental flew 3.6 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 5.4 billion available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic increase of 15.9 percent and a capacity increase of 8.9 percent versus December 1995.

Continental's wholly owned Continental Express subsidiary reported that its December load factor was 49.8 percent, based on 78.2 million RPMs and 157.1 million ASMs. -0-

                           PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

DECEMBER                        1996         1995          Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)
  Domestic                   2,595,033    2,262,514     14.7 percent
  International              1,034,492      869,846     18.9 percent
  Total Jet                  3,629,525    3,132,360     15.9 percent
  Cont'l. Express               78,178       57,496     36.0 percent

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)
  Domestic                   3,839,287    3,583,524      7.1 percent
  International              1,528,287    1,343,819     13.7 percent
  Total Jet                  5,367,574    4,927,342      8.9 percent
  Cont'l. Express              157,057      119,276     31.7 percent

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
  Domestic                  67.6 percent  63.1 percent   4.5 points
  International             67.7 percent  64.7 percent   3.0 points
  Total Jet                 67.6 percent  63.6 percent   4.0 points
  Cont'l. Express           49.8 percent  48.2 percent   1.6 points

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)
   Total                        44,673       37,601     18.8 percent


YEAR-TO-DATE                    1996         1995          Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)
  Domestic                  30,036,571   29,240,688      2.7 percent
  International             11,893,281   10,800,770     10.1 percent
  Total Jet                 41,929,852   40,041,458      4.7 percent
  Cont'l. Express              930,721      752,775     23.6 percent

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)
  Domestic                  44,321,396   44,894,047     -1.3 percent
  International             17,221,385   16,127,915      6.8 percent
  Total Jet                 61,542,781   61,021,962      0.9 percent
  Cont'l. Express            1,802,327    1,521,477     18.5 percent

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
  Domestic                  67.8 percent  65.1 percent   2.6 points
  International             69.0 percent  67.0 percent   2.1 points
  Total Jet                 68.1 percent  65.6 percent   2.5 points
  Cont'l. Express           51.6 percent  49.5 percent   2.2 points

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)
  Total                        496,771      458,786      8.3 percent