News Release

Continental Airlines Reports Operational Performance for the First Two Weeks Of October

HOUSTON, October 15, 2001 -- For the first two weeks in October 2001, Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported a 71.3 percent domestic and 56.3 percent international load factor for a systemwide load factor of 65.5 percent. The systemwide load factor is 13.2 points above the load factor reported for the last two weeks of September 2001 and 5.5 points below the 71.0 percent load factor reported for the comparable period in 2000. The domestic load factor is 1.3 points higher than the results for the same period last year, although on 18.9 percent less capacity.

Continental's on-time arrival rate was 84.0 percent for the first two weeks of October. Completion factor for the two weeks was 99.1 percent, with the carrier operating approximately 1,100 flights a day.

"Continental is continuing to see a growing increase in its load factors since the Sept. 11 attacks, especially on its domestic flights," said Gordon Bethune, Continental chairman and chief executive officer. "The positive load factor trend shows that customers have confidence in Continental and are returning to the skies for their travel needs."

During the first two weeks of October 2001, Continental flew 1.8 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 2.7 billion available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic decrease of 23.6 percent and a capacity decrease of 17.2 percent versus the corresponding two-week period in October 2000. Domestic traffic was 1.2 billion RPMs, down 17.4 percent from October 2000, and domestic capacity was 1.7 billion ASMs, down 18.9 percent from last year.

Low load factors and yields resulted in a decrease in estimated systemwide passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) of between 26 and 28 percent for the first two weeks of October 2001, as compared to the first two weeks of October 2000. During Sept. 17-30, 2001, RASM declined 38 percent, as compared to the same period in 2000.

Continental Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental Airlines, reported a load factor of 62.3 percent for the first two weeks of October, 1.8 points above the comparable period last year. Continental Express flew 127.3 million RPMs and 204.2 million ASMs the first two weeks of October, resulting in a traffic increase of 4.5 percent and a capacity increase of 1.5 percent versus the same period in October 2000.

Weekly Statistics

The following table summarizes Continental's load factor over the past four weeks.

                     PRELIMINARY WEEKLY LOAD FACTOR AVERAGES
Sept. 17-23   Sept. 24-30     Oct. 1-7    Oct. 8-14
PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
Domestic          46.6 Percent  58.6 Percent  69.4 Percent  73.1 Percent
International     55.9 Percent  47.9 Percent  56.0 Percent  56.6 Percent
Total Jet         50.4 Percent  54.2 Percent  64.2 Percent  66.8 Percent
Cont'l. Express   39.0 Percent  53.4 Percent  60.4 Percent  64.3 Percent
PRELIMINARY RASM CHANGE
Oct. 1-14 2001  estimated year-over-year RASM change  (26-28)  Percent
PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS
OCT 1 - OCT 14                    2001         2000             Change
REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)
Domestic                     1,203,725    1,457,797      (17.4)  Percent
International                  595,441      897,408      (33.6)  Percent
Total Jet                    1,799,166    2,355,205      (23.6)  Percent
Cont'l. Express                127,329      121,845        4.5   Percent
AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)
Domestic                     1,688,978    2,081,575      (18.9)  Percent
International                1,057,275    1,235,926      (14.5)  Percent
Total Jet                    2,746,253    3,317,501      (17.2)  Percent
Cont'l. Express                204,249      201,323        1.5   Percent
PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
Domestic                 71.3 Percent    70.0 Percent      1.3   Points
International            56.3 Percent    72.6 Percent    (16.3)  Points
Total Jet                65.5 Percent    71.0 Percent     (5.5)  Points
Cont'l. Express          62.3 Percent    60.5 Percent      1.8   Points
CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)
Total                           31,495       45,911      (31.4)  Percent
OCT 1 - OCT 7
PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
Domestic                 69.4 Percent    68.7 Percent      0.7   Points
International            56.0 Percent    73.4 Percent    (17.4)  Points
Total Jet                64.2 Percent    70.5 Percent     (6.3)  Points
Cont'l. Express          60.4 Percent    59.3 Percent      1.1   Points
OCT 8 - OCT 14
PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
Domestic                 73.1 Percent    71.3 Percent      1.8   Points
International            56.6 Percent    71.8 Percent    (15.2)  Points
Total Jet                66.8 Percent    71.5 Percent     (4.7)  Points
Cont'l. Express          64.3 Percent    61.7 Percent      2.6   Points