Continental Reports December Traffic Up 6 Percent

Continental Airlines reported a December consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 83 percent, 3.1 points above the December 2008 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 83.5 percent, 3.1 points above the December 2008 mainline load factor.

The carrier reported a domestic mainline December load factor of 85.1 percent, 1.1 points above the December 2008 domestic mainline load factor, and an international mainline load factor of 81.9 percent, 5.2 points above December 2008. All four December load factors were records for the month.

In December 2009, Continental flew 7.5 billion consolidated revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 9.1 billion consolidated available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a consolidated traffic increase of 6 percent and a capacity increase of 2.1 percent as compared to December 2008.

In December 2009, Continental flew 6.7 billion mainline RPMs and 8.1 billion mainline ASMs, resulting in a mainline traffic increase of 6.3 percent and a mainline capacity increase of 2.3 percent as compared to December 2008.

Domestic mainline traffic was 3.5 billion RPMs in December 2009, up 3.5 percent from December 2008, and domestic mainline capacity was 4.1 billion ASMs, up 2.2 percent from December 2008. For December 2009, consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) is estimated to have decreased between 3.5 and 4.5 percent compared to December 2008, while mainline RASM is estimated to have decreased between 4.5 and 5.5 percent.

For November 2009, consolidated passenger RASM decreased 8.5 percent compared to November 2008, while mainline passenger RASM decreased 9.8 percent compared to November 2008.