Continental reported record consolidated load factor

Continental Airlines has reported a November 2009 consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 80.5 per cent, up 3.2 points year on year, and a record mainline load factor of 81.1 per cent, up 3.3 points.

According to the Shipping Gazette, in November the carrier's domestic mainline load factor rose by 2.7 points compared to the same month in 2008 to 83.3 per cent. It also recorded an international mainline load factor of 78.8 per cent, 3.8 points higher than last year.

During the reporting period, Continental flew 6.8 billion consolidated revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 8.4 billion consolidated available seat miles (ASMs), resulting in a consolidated traffic increase of 2.9 per cent and a capacity decrease of 1.2 per cent as compared to November 2008.

In November, Continental flew 6.0 billion mainline RPMs and 7.4 billion mainline ASMs, representing a year on year mainline traffic increase of 2.7 per cent and a mainline capacity decrease of 1.4 per cent.

Domestic mainline traffic was 3.2 billion RPMs in November, up 2.9 per cent year on year, and domestic mainline capacity was 3.8 billion ASMs, down 0.5 per cent.
Consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (RASM) is estimated to have decreased between seven and nine per cent compared to November 2008, while mainline RASM is estimated to have fallen between eight and 10 per cent. "The ranges of the year-over-year RASM estimates for the month of November are wider than usual due to processing delays associated with the transition to Star Alliance," the carrier explained.

Continental's regional operations had a November load factor of 75.9 per cent, 2.8 points above the November 2008 regional load factor. Regional RPMs were 743.8 million and regional ASMs were 980.4 million, resulting in a year-on-year traffic increase of four per cent and a capacity growth of 0.3 per cent, respectively.
The airline said it anticipates ending the year with an unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments balance of approximately US$2.5 billion.

Source: Transportweekly