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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 8-K

 

 

 

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

 

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

January 2, 2003

 

 

 

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

1-10323

74-2099724

(State or other jurisdiction

(Commission File Number)

(IRS Employer

of incorporation)

  

Identification No.)

 

1600 Smith Street, Dept. HQSEO, Houston, Texas

77002

(Address of principal executive offices)

(Zip Code)

(713) 324-2950

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Item 5. Other Events.

On January 2, 2003, we issued a press release announcing our December and 2002 performance and our estimated consolidated breakeven load factor for January 2003. The press release is filed herewith as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 7. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

    1. Exhibits

      1. Press Release

 

 

SIGNATURE

 

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Continental Airlines, Inc. has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
 

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

 

 

January 2, 2003

By /s/ Jennifer L. Vogel                           
 

Jennifer L. Vogel
 

Vice President and General Counsel

 

 

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

99.1

Press Release

 

 

 

 
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

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE FOR 2002 AND DECEMBER 2002

HOUSTON, Jan. 2, 2003 - Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported a 2002 systemwide mainline jet load factor of 74.1 percent, 1.7 points above the 2001 load factor. For December 2002, Continental reported a record December systemwide mainline jet load factor of 74.0 percent, 1.3 points above the previous record reported for December 2001. The airline reported a record December domestic mainline jet load factor of 75.4 percent and an international mainline jet load factor of 71.9 percent for December 2002.

The movement of the busy Thanksgiving return days, Sunday and Monday, from November to December this year accounted for an increase of about two points for the December domestic mainline jet load factor. In the attached charts, Continental provides traffic results for 2002, 2001 and 2000 because the events of Sept. 11, 2001 skew year-over-year comparisons of 2002 to 2001.

For 2002, Continental reported a record on-time arrival rate of 83.5 percent and a record completion factor of 99.7 percent. For December 2002, the airline's on-time arrival rate was 76.4 percent and its completion factor was 99.3 percent for its mainline jet operations.

In December 2002, Continental flew 4.8 billion mainline jet revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 6.5 billion mainline jet available seat miles (ASMs) systemwide, resulting in a traffic increase of 7.0 percent and a capacity increase of 5.0 percent as compared to December 2001. Domestic mainline jet traffic was 3.1 billion RPMs in December 2002, up 5.9 percent from December 2001, and December 2002 domestic mainline jet capacity was 4.0 billion ASMs, up 1.9 percent from December 2001.

Systemwide December 2002 mainline jet passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) is estimated to have increased between 9 and 11 percent compared to December 2001 and decreased between 5 and 7 percent compared to December 2000. For November 2002,

 

DECEMBER 2002 AND 2002 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 2

RASM decreased 1.7 percent as compared to November 2001 and declined 18.4 percent as compared to November 2000.

While the preliminary December year-over-year and year-over-2000 RASM numbers are encouraging, two factors accounted for the improvement over previous months. First, the very strong Sunday and Monday Thanksgiving return days fell in December this year, unlike the previous two years. Continental estimates that this contributed 3 points to the RASM improvement. Second, the holiday period from the Saturday before Christmas to New Year's Eve was particularly strong, and while that strength may spill into the first few days of January, the airline does not expect those trends to continue for all of January.

Consolidated breakeven load factor for January 2003 is estimated to be 84 percent. Consolidated breakeven load factor for December 2002 is estimated to have been 79 percent. Actual consolidated breakeven load factor may vary significantly from these 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.

ExpressJet Airlines, a subsidiary of Continental Airlines doing business as Continental Express, separately reported a record December load factor of 67.6 percent for December 2002, 5.8 points above last year's December load factor. ExpressJet flew 384.0 million RPMs and 568.2 million ASMs in December 2002, resulting in a traffic increase of 36.9 percent and a capacity increase of 25.2 percent versus December 2001.

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 2001 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.

DECEMBER 2002 and 2002 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 3

PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

 

DECEMBER

2002

2001

2000

Change
         

2002 vs. 2001

2002 vs. 2000

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

      
 

Domestic

3,051,546

2,881,503

3,212,474

5.9  Percent

(5.0) Percent
             
 

International

1,776,959

1,632,998

1,838,594

8.8  Percent

(3.4) Percent
 

Transatlantic

745,660

664,946

792,335

12.1  Percent

(5.9) Percent
 

Latin America

665,560

608,449

656,743

9.4  Percent

1.3  Percent
 

Pacific

365,740

359,603

389,516

1.7  Percent

(6.1) Percent
             
 

Total Jet

4,828,505

4,514,501

5,051,068

7.0  Percent

(4.4) Percent
             
 

ExpressJet

384,001

280,539

251,958

36.9  Percent

52.4  Percent
             

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

      
 

Domestic

4,049,704

3,972,599

4,479,466

1.9  Percent

(9.6) Percent
             
 

International

2,472,839

2,238,346

2,599,601

10.5  Percent

(4.9) Percent
 

Transatlantic

996,863

893,702

1,099,481

11.5  Percent

(9.3) Percent
 

Latin America

913,979

835,862

941,440

9.3  Percent

(2.9) Percent
 

Pacific

561,997

508,781

558,680

10.5  Percent

0.6  Percent
             
 

Total Jet

6,522,543

6,210,945

7,079,067

5.0  Percent

(7.9) Percent
             
 

ExpressJet

568,187

453,994

410,250

25.2  Percent

38.5  Percent
             

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

      
 

Domestic

75.4 Percent

72.5 Percent

71.7 Percent

2.9  Points

3.7  Points
             
 

International

71.9 Percent

73.0 Percent

70.7 Percent

(1.1) Points

1.2  Points
 

Transatlantic

74.8 Percent

74.4 Percent

72.1 Percent

0.4  Points

2.7  Points
 

Latin America

72.8 Percent

72.8 Percent

69.8 Percent

-  Points

3.0  Points
 

Pacific

65.1 Percent

70.7 Percent

69.7 Percent

(5.6) Points

(4.6) Points
             
 

Total Jet

74.0 Percent

72.7 Percent

71.4 Percent

1.3  Points

2.6  Points
             
 

ExpressJet

67.6 Percent

61.8 Percent

61.4 Percent

5.8  Points

6.2  Points
             

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

      
 

Total

74,333

64,493

90,198

15.3  Percent

(17.6) Percent

 

-more-

DECEMBER 2002 AND 2002 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 4

FULL YEAR

  

2002

2001

Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

    
 

Domestic

36,116,255

38,143,058

(5.3) Percent
         
 

International

23,232,644

22,996,668

1.0  Percent
 

Transatlantic

10,482,072

10,222,631

2.5  Percent
 

Latin America

7,501,116

7,630,253

(1.7) Percent
 

Pacific

5,249,456

5,143,784

2.1  Percent
         
 

Total Jet

59,348,899

61,139,726

(2.9) Percent
         
 

ExpressJet

3,951,617

3,388,216

16.6  Percent
         

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

    
 

Domestic

48,942,612

52,534,894

(6.8) Percent
         
 

International

31,179,621

31,949,643

(2.4) Percent
 

Transatlantic

13,504,293

13,762,699

(1.9) Percent
 

Latin America

10,521,759

10,638,711

(1.1) Percent
 

Pacific

7,153,569

7,548,233

(5.2) Percent
         
 

Total Jet

80,122,233

84,484,537

(5.2) Percent
         
 

ExpressJet

6,218,578

5,436,515

14.4  Percent
         

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

    
 

Domestic

73.8 Percent

72.6 Percent

1.2  Points
         
 

International

74.5 Percent

72.0 Percent

2.5  Points
 

Transatlantic

77.6 Percent

74.3 Percent

3.3 Points
 

Latin America

71.3 Percent

71.7 Percent

(0.4) Points
 

Pacific

73.4 Percent

68.1 Percent

5.3  Points
         
 

Total Jet

74.1 Percent

72.4 Percent

1.7  Points
         
 

ExpressJet

63.5 Percent

62.3 Percent

1.2  Points
         

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

    
 

Total

908,833

916,524

(0.8) Percent

-more-

DECEMBER 2002 AND 2002 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 5

PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL RESULTS

DECEMBER

2002

2001

Change

On-Time Performance1

76.4%

82.9%

(6.5) Points
         

Completion Factor2

99.3%

99.8%

(0.5) Points
       
         

FULL YEAR

  

2002

2001

Change

On-Time Performance1

83.5%

80.7%

2.8  Points
         

Completion Factor2

99.7%

97.6%

2.1  Points
       
         

November 2002 actual consolidated breakeven load factor3

83.3  Percent
         

December 2002 estimated year-over-year RASM change

9-11 Percent
         

December 2002 estimated average price per gallon of fuel,

                           excluding fuel taxes

75 Cents   
         

December 2002 estimated consolidated breakeven load factor3

79 Percent
         

December 2002 actual consolidated load factor4

73.5  Percent
         

January 2003 estimated consolidated breakeven load factor3

84 Percent
 

YEAR-OVER-YEAR RASM5

2002 vs. 2001

2002 vs. 2000

  

May

(6.3) Percent

(15.1) Percent

  

June

(5.5) Percent

(15.5) Percent

  

July

(4.0) Percent

(13.5) Percent

  

August

(2.7) Percent

(15.2) Percent

  

September

10.8  Percent

(17.6) Percent

  

October

9.3  Percent

(15.7) Percent

  

November

(1.7) Percent

(18.4) Percent

  

December (estimated)

9-11 Percent

(5-7) Percent

  

1 Department of Transportation Arrivals within 14 minutes

2 System Mileage Completion Percentage

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

consolidated net income basis

4 Includes Continental Airlines and Continental Express

5 Continental Airlines has been releasing RASM data since May 2001

 

 

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