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):

October 1, 2001

 

 

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

0-09781

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 October 1, 2001, Continental Airlines, Inc. issued a press release, which is filed herewith as Exhibit 99.1 and 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.

 

 

By /s/ Jennifer L. Vogel                    

Jennifer L. Vogel

Vice President and

General Counsel

October 1, 2001

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

    1. Press Release

 

 

News Release

EXHIBIT 99.1

News Release

Contact: Corporate Communications

Houston: 713.324.5080

Email: corpcomm@coair.com

News archive: http://www.continental.com/news/ Address: P.O. Box 4607, Houston, TX 77210-4607

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES REPORTS SEPTEMBER PERFORMANCE

HOUSTON, Oct. 1, 2001 -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported operating statistics for the month of September. Due to the adverse effect on the airline from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Continental is reporting weekly detailed statistics for the Sept. 11-30 period in addition to the regular data for the full month.

Continental operated only a portion of its flights on Sept.11 and experienced a federally-mandated cessation of service Sept. 12-13. A partial flight schedule resumed Sept. 14, and the airline previously announced that it will indefinitely eliminate approximately 20 percent of its capacity due to actual and anticipated decreased demand.

Full-Month Statistics

For the month of September, Continental reported a load factor of 61.4 percent, 11.0 points below the 72.4 percent load factor reported for September 2000.

In September 2001, Continental flew 3.6 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 5.9 billion available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic decrease of 31.0 percent and a capacity decrease of 18.6 percent versus September 2000. Domestic traffic was 2.1 billion RPMs, down 32.3 percent from September 2000, and domestic capacity was 3.5 billion ASMs, down 22.1 percent from last year.

Continental's on-time arrival rate, which counts cancelled flights as delayed, was 65.8 percent. Completion factor for the month was 81.2 percent, with a total of 7,539 flights cancelled. Excluding cancellations due to the attacks and schedule reduction, completion factor was 99.7 percent.

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SEPTEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 2

Continental ended the month of September with cash balances of $1.2 billion. The company received $212.6 million in funds from the U.S. Government under the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, and expects to receive additional payments under that Act before the end of the calendar year, in an amount approximating the amount already received.

The decline of Continental's load factor, along with a decline in yield in September 2001, resulted in a decrease in estimated systemwide passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) of between 25 and 29 percent, as compared to September 2000. The RASM decrease during Sept. 1-10 was between 9 and 11 percent, while the decline during Sept. 11-30 is estimated to be between 33 and 37 percent, as compared to the same periods in 2000.

Continental Express, a wholly owned regional air carrier for Continental Airlines, reported a September load factor of 52.0 percent, 6.9 points below last September. Continental Express flew 195.0 million RPMs and 375.0 million ASMs in September, resulting in a traffic decrease of 21.7 percent and a capacity decrease of 11.4 percent versus September 2000.

For the entire month, Continental and Continental Express had 2,915,615 enplanements, a 32.2 percent drop from the 4,298,885 enplanements recorded in September 2000.

Statistics for Weeks After Sept. 11

For the period of Sept. 11-16, Continental reported a load factor of 62.2 percent, while operating only 32 percent of its expected capacity. For Sept. 17-23, Continental's load factor dropped to 50.4 percent. For Sept. 24-30, the load factor rose to 54.1 percent.

Continental has reported more detailed load factor information for these time periods in an attached supplementary table.

 

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SEPTEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 3

PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

 

SEPTEMBER

 

2001

2000

Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

2,092,884

3,091,324

(32.3) Percent

         
 

International

1,513,179

2,131,577

(29.0) Percent

 

Transatlantic

725,723

1,130,762

(35.8) Percent

 

Latin America

439,957

569,193

(22.7) Percent

 

Pacific

347,499

431,622

(19.5) Percent

         
 

Total Jet

3,606,063

5,222,901

(31.0) Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

194,991

249,032

(21.7) Percent

         

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

3,467,427

4,448,471

(22.1) Percent

         
 

International

2,403,365

2,762,464

(13.0) Percent

 

Transatlantic

1,083,159

1,346,384

(19.6) Percent

 

Latin America

720,589

866,390

(16.8) Percent

 

Pacific

599,617

549,690

9.1 Percent

         
 

Total Jet

5,870,792

7,210,935

(18.6) Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

374,962

423,102

(11.4) Percent

         

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

   
 

Domestic

60.4 Percent

69.5 Percent

(9.1) Points

         
 

International

63.0 Percent

77.2 Percent

(14.2) Points

 

Transatlantic

67.0 Percent

84.0 Percent

(17.0) Points

 

Latin America

61.1 Percent

65.7 Percent

(4.6) Points

 

Pacific

58.0 Percent

78.5 Percent

(20.5) Points

         
 

Total Jet

61.4 Percent

72.4 Percent

(11.0) Points

         
 

Cont'l. Express

52.0 Percent

58.9 Percent

(6.9) Points

         

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

   
 

Total

61,607

93,510

(34.1) Percent

 

SEPTEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 4

 

YEAR-TO-DATE

2001

2000

Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

29,721,999

29,713,924

0.0 Percent

         
 

International

18,649,739

19,108,534

(2.4) Percent

 

Transatlantic

8,289,874

9,281,676

(10.7) Percent

 

Latin America

6,091,165

6,074,197

0.3 Percent

 

Pacific

4,268,700

3,752,661

13.8 Percent

         
 

Total Jet

48,371,738

48,822,458

(0.9) Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

2,540,047

2,157,127

17.8 Percent

         

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

40,972,088

39,903,539

2.7 Percent

         
 

International

25,292,409

24,786,266

2.0 Percent

 

Transatlantic

10,892,452

11,493,903

(5.2) Percent

 

Latin America

8,338,749

8,301,953

0.4 Percent

 

Pacific

6,061,208

4,990,410

21.5 Percent

         
 

Total Jet

66,264,497

64,689,805

2.4 Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

4,082,999

3,451,030

18.3 Percent

         

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

   
 

Domestic

72.5 Percent

74.5 Percent

(2.0) Points

       
 

International

73.7 Percent

77.1 Percent

(3.4) Points

 

Transatlantic

76.1 Percent

80.8 Percent

(4.7) Points

 

Latin America

73.0 Percent

73.2 Percent

(0.2) Points

 

Pacific

70.4 Percent

75.2 Percent

(4.8) Points

         
 

Total Jet

73.0 Percent

75.5 Percent

(2.5) Points

         
 

Cont'l. Express

62.2 Percent

62.5 Percent

(0.3) Points

         

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

   
 

Total

714,188

810,668

(11.9) Percent

 

 

SEPTEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 5

PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

 

   

SEPTEMBER

   

Sept. 1-10

Sept. 11-16*

Sept. 17-23

Sept. 24-30

           

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

       
 

Domestic

70.0 Percent

58.0 Percent

46.6 Percent

58.5 Percent

 

International

76.2 Percent

66.6 Percent

55.8 Percent

47.7 Percent

 

Total Jet

72.4 Percent

62.2 Percent

50.4 Percent

54.1 Percent

 

Continental Express

61.9 Percent

41.1 Percent

39.0 Percent

53.4 Percent

 

 

 

PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL RESULTS

SEPTEMBER

 

2001

2000

Change

On-Time Performance**

65.8%

79.5%

(13.7)Points

         

Completion Factor***

81.2%

99.1%

(17.9)Points

       
         
         
         

PRELIMINARY RASM CHANGE AND FUEL PRICE

         

SEPTEMBER 2001 estimated year-over-year RASM Change

 
     

Full Month

(25-29) Percent

     

Sept. 1-10

(9-11) Percent

     

Sept. 11-30

(33-37) Percent

         

SEPTEMBER 2001 estimated average price per gallon

of fuel, excluding fuel taxes

81 cents

         

* Only 32 percent of planned capacity was operated

** Department of Transportation Arrivals within 14 minutes

*** System Mileage Completion percentage

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