News Release
Continental Airlines Reports September Performance
HOUSTON, October 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.
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.
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 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 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