Continental Airlines reports July 2005 Operational Performance

Continental Airlines has reported a July 2005 consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 83.9%, 1.5 points below last year’s July consolidated load factor. The carrier reported a mainline load factor of 84.6%, 1.5 points below last year’s July mainline load factor, and a domestic mainline load factor of 86.4%, 0.1 points below July 2004. In addition, the airline had an international mainline July load factor of 82.5%, 3.1 points below July 2004.

During the month, Continental recorded a U.S. Department of Transportation on-time arrival rate of 69.5%. The carrier’s on-time arrival rate was impacted by severe weather, which plagued the carrier’s hub operations in both Newark and Houston throughout much of July. Despite these difficult weather conditions, Continental maintained a systemwide mainline completion factor of 99.6%.

In July 2005, Continental flew 7.9 billion consolidated revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 9.4 billion consolidated available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic increase of 7.8% and a capacity increase of 9.6% as compared to July 2004. In July 2005, Continental flew 7 billion mainline RPMs and 8.3 billion mainline ASMs, resulting in a mainline traffic increase of 6.6% and a mainline capacity increase of 8.5% as compared to July 2004. Domestic mainline traffic was 3.8 billion RPMs in July 2005, up 2.4% from July 2004, and domestic mainline capacity was 4.4 billion ASMs, up 2.5% from July 2004.

For the month of July 2005, both consolidated and mainline passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) are estimated to have increased between 4.5 and 5.5% compared to July 2004. For June 2005, both consolidated and mainline passenger RASM increased 6.6% compared to June 2004.

Continental’s regional operations (Continental Express) had a July load factor of 78.7%, 0.6 points below last year’s July load factor. Regional RPMs were 861.8 million and regional ASMs were 1,094.5 million in July 2005, resulting in a traffic increase of 18.1% and a capacity increase of 19% versus July 2004.

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