Continental Airlines Reports Record September Load Factor.

HOUSTON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL and CAL.A) today reported a systemwide load factor of 72.8 percent in September, the highest September load factor in company history and 0.1 point above the previous record set last year.

In September 1999, Continental flew 5.0 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 6.9 billion available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a traffic increase of 9.3 percent on a capacity increase of 9.2 percent versus September 1998. International traffic was 2.0 billion RPMs, up 23.3 percent from September 1998 and international capacity was 2.5 billion ASMs, up 18.4 percent from last year.

Continental Express, Continental's wholly owned regional subsidiary, reported its second highest September load factor ever of 61.8 percent, 0.7 points behind last September's record which was set during the strike at Northwest Airlines. Continental Express flew 189.8 million RPMs and 307.1 million ASMs in September, resulting in a traffic increase of 29.2 percent and a capacity increase of 30.8 percent versus last year.

PRELIMINARY TRAFFIC RESULTS

        SEPTEMBER              1999             1998              Change

    REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)
        Domestic            3,005,060        2,954,588          1.7 Percent
        International       1,982,578        1,607,872         23.3 Percent
        Total Jet           4,987,638        4,562,460          9.3 Percent
        Cont'l. Express       189,841          146,914         29.2 Percent

    AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)
        Domestic            4,305,032        4,121,641          4.4 Percent
        International       2,548,900        2,152,147         18.4 Percent
        Total Jet           6,853,932        6,273,788          9.2 Percent
        Cont'l. Express       307,142          234,885         30.8 Percent

    PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
        Domestic         69.8 Percent     71.7 Percent         (1.9) Points
        International    77.8 Percent     74.7 Percent          3.1  Points
        Total Jet        72.8 Percent     72.7 Percent          0.1  Points
        Cont'l. Express  61.8 Percent     62.5 Percent         (0.7) Points

    CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)
        Total                  86,166           69,233          24.5 Percent

    YEAR-TO-DATE            1999    1998        Change

    REVENUE PASSENGER MILES (000)
        Domestic           28,517,508       26,874,409           6.1 Percent
        International      16,532,547       13,817,603          19.6 Percent
        Total Jet          45,050,055       40,692,012          10.7 Percent
        Cont'l. Express     1,534,548        1,135,285          35.2 Percent

    AVAILABLE SEAT MILES (000)
        Domestic           39,028,991       36,866,657           5.9 Percent
        International      21,923,485       18,871,492          16.2 Percent
        Total Jet          60,952,476       55,738,149           9.4 Percent
        Cont'l. Express     2,450,130        1,914,575          28.0 Percent

    PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR
        Domestic         73.1 Percent     72.9 Percent            0.2 Points
        International    75.4 Percent     73.2 Percent            2.2 Points
        Total Jet        73.9 Percent     73.0 Percent            0.9 Points
        Cont'l. Express  62.6 Percent     59.3 Percent            3.3 Points

    CARGO REVENUE TON MILES (000)
        Total                 705,252          635,261           11.0 Percent