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):

December 3, 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 December 3, 2001, Continental Airlines, Inc. issued two press releases, one announcing November traffic results and the other announcing the closing of the Company's previously announced public offering of common stock. The press releases are filed herewith as Exhibits 99.1 and 99.2, respectively, and are incorporated herein by reference.

Item 7. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

    1. Exhibits

      1. Press Release -- Traffic
      2. Press Release -- Offering

 

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

December 3, 2001

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

    1. Press Release -- Traffic
    2. Press Release -- Offering

 

 

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

PERFORMANCE FOR NOVEMBER 2001

HOUSTON, Dec. 3, 2001 - Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported a 73.8 percent domestic and 66.8 percent international load factor for a systemwide load factor of 71.4 percent in November 2001. The systemwide load factor is 1.2 points below the 72.6 percent load factor reported for November 2000.

Continental's on-time arrival rate was 85.9 percent and its completion factor was 99.5 percent for November 2001.

In November 2001, Continental flew 4.2 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) systemwide and 5.9 billion available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic decrease of 16.7 percent and a capacity decrease of 15.2 percent versus November 2000. Domestic traffic was 2.8 billion RPMs, down 12.9 percent from November 2000, and domestic capacity was 3.8 billion ASMs, down 12.8 percent from last year.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 21-26, the carrier reported a load factor of 77.5 percent, which is essentially unchanged from last year's load factor during this period. On Sunday, Nov. 25, Continental reported a 91.1 percent domestic load factor, 1.4 points higher than the same Sunday last year.

Lower year-over-year yields and moderately lower load factors resulted in a decrease in estimated systemwide passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) of between 17 and 19 percent for November 2001, as compared to November 2000. For the month of October 2001, RASM declined 23 percent as compared to October 2000.

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NOVEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 2

Continental Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental Airlines, reported a load factor of 63.5 percent for November 2001, 1.2 points above last year. Continental Express flew 281.0 million RPMs and 442.3 million ASMs in November, resulting in a traffic increase of 6.3 percent and a capacity increase of 4.1 percent versus November 2000.

Bookings for Christmas travel remain strong and load factors are anticipated to be similar to last year.

Weekly Statistics

The following table summarizes Continental's year-over-year load factor difference for the complete weeks of November 2001 on a same day-of-week basis.

PRELIMINARY YEAR-OVER-YEAR LOAD FACTOR DIFFERENCE

 

 

Oct 29-Nov 4

Nov 5-11

Nov 12-18

Nov 19-25

Nov 26-Dec 2

           

Domestic

0.5 Points

(0.5) Points

(0.4)  Points

0.0 Points

1.9 Points

International

(9.5) Points

(4.6) Points

(3.4) Points

(1.6) Points

(1.5) Points

Total Jet

(3.2) Points

(2.0) Points

(1.4) Points

(0.2) Points

0.7  Points

Cont'l. Express

1.2 Points

2.2 Points

1.3 Points

(0.1) Points

2.8 Points

 

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NOVEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 3

PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

NOVEMBER

 

2001

2000

Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

2,822,842

3,240,160

(12.9) Percent

         
 

International

1,398,060

1,827,585

(23.5) Percent

 

Transatlantic

625,666

847,249

(26.2) Percent

 

Latin America

500,737

610,076

(17.9) Percent

 

Pacific

271,657

370,259

(26.6) Percent

         
 

Total Jet

4,220,902

5,067,745

(16.7) Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

281,013

264,446

6.3  Percent

         

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

3,823,319

4,385,520

(12.8) Percent

         
 

International

2,092,342

2,594,312

(19.3) Percent

 

Transatlantic

912,627

1,183,972

(22.9) Percent

 

Latin America

719,904

881,736

(18.4) Percent

 

Pacific

459,812

528,604

(13.0) Percent

         
 

Total Jet

5,915,661

6,979,831

(15.2) Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

442,304

424,696

4.1  Percent

         

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

   
 

Domestic

73.8 Percent

73.9 Percent

(0.1) Points

         
 

International

66.8 Percent

70.4 Percent

(3.6) Points

 

Transatlantic

68.6 Percent

71.6 Percent

(3.0) Points

 

Latin America

69.6 Percent

69.2 Percent

0.4  Points

 

Pacific

59.1 Percent

70.0 Percent

(10.9) Points

         
 

Total Jet

71.4 Percent

72.6 Percent

(1.2) Points

         
 

Cont'l. Express

63.5 Percent

62.3 Percent

1.2  Points

         

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

   
 

Total

65,572

91,925

(28.7) Percent

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NOVEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 4

 

YEAR-TO-DATE

2001

2000

Change

REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

35,261,425

36,235,675

(2.7) Percent

         
 

International

21,363,248

22,874,719

(6.6) Percent

 

Transatlantic

9,557,503

11,124,748

(14.1) Percent

 

Latin America

7,021,570

7,251,917

(3.2) Percent

 

Pacific

4,784,175

4,498,054

6.4 Percent

         
 

Total Jet

56,624,673

59,110,394

(4.2) Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

3,107,688

2,695,495

15.3 Percent

         

AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)

   
 

Domestic

48,562,295

48,904,563

(0.7) Percent

         
 

International

29,710,928

30,115,420

(1.3) Percent

 

Transatlantic

12,868,779

13,991,346

(8.0) Percent

 

Latin America

9,802,697

10,071,184

(2.7) Percent

 

Pacific

7,039,452

6,052,890

16.3 Percent

         
 

Total Jet

78,273,223

79,019,983

(0.9) Percent

         
 

Cont'l. Express

4,982,519

4,324,499

15.2 Percent

         

PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

   
 

Domestic

72.6 Percent

74.1 Percent

(1.5) Points

       
 

International

71.9 Percent

76.0 Percent

(4.1) Points

 

Transatlantic

74.3 Percent

79.5 Percent

(5.2) Points

 

Latin America

71.6 Percent

72.0 Percent

(0.4) Points

 

Pacific

68.0 Percent

74.3 Percent

(6.3) Points

         
 

Total Jet

72.3 Percent

74.8 Percent

(2.5) Points

         
 

Cont'l. Express

62.4 Percent

62.3 Percent

0.1  Points

         

CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)

   
 

Total

852,032

1,003,101

(15.1) Percent

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NOVEMBER 2001 PERFORMANCE/PAGE 5

PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL RESULTS

NOVEMBER

 

2001

2000

Change

On-Time Performance*

85.9%

80.0%

5.9  Points

         

Completion Factor**

99.5%

99.6%

(0.1) Points

       
         
         
         

PRELIMINARY RASM CHANGE

         

November 2001 estimated year-over-year RASM Change

(17-19) Percent

         

November 2001 estimated average price per gallon of fuel,

                           excluding fuel taxes

66 cents

         

* Department of Transportation Arrivals within 14 minutes

** System Mileage Completion percentage

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News Release

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 COMPLETES

COMMON STOCK OFFERING

HOUSTON, Dec. 3, 2001 - Continental Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: CAL), today announced that it completed its previously announced common stock offering under its shelf registration.

The company sold 7,751,000 shares of Class B common stock, which includes the underwriter's full exercise of its overallotment option, at a price of $22.50 per share. Net proceeds to the company totaled approximately $172.1 million and will be used for general corporate purposes.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated ("Merrill Lynch") acted as sole underwriter for the offering. Copies of the prospectus supplement and prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from Merrill Lynch, 4 World Financial Center, North Tower, New York, NY 10281-1200. These documents have also been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are available at the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov.

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STOCK OFFERING/Page Two

Continental Airlines is the fifth largest airline in the U.S., offering more than 1,900 departures daily to 124 domestic and 84 international destinations. Operating hubs in Newark, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, Continental serves more international cities than any other U.S. carrier, including extensive service throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit continental.com.

The shares will be issued pursuant to a shelf registration statement that was previously filed. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of Continental common stock. An offering of shares of Continental common stock will be made only by means of a prospectus. The prospectus shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

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