Companies:Continental Airlines, Inc.

AP - FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2009 file photo, a Continental Airlines 737 sit at a gate while ...

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CAL 20.62 0.00

By David Koenig, AP Airlines Writer , On Thursday January 21, 2010, 7:42 am EST
DALLAS (AP) -- Continental Airlines Inc. earned a surprising profit in the fourth quarter thanks to higher traffic and lower fuel spending.

Continental said Thursday that it earned $85 million in the quarter.

Without some special items, including an income tax gain, the company would have earned $4 million, or 3 cents per share. Analysts expected a loss of 7 cents per share.

The biggest difference from a year ago was spending on fuel, which plunged by about one-third, as prices were much lower than they were in late 2008. The airline spent $388 million less on fuel than it did a year earlier.

Houston-based Continental, the nation's fourth-largest airline, boosted passenger traffic by 3.5 percent in the quarter including its commuter airline affiliates.

But revenue fell 8.3 percent, to $3.18 billion, because of a decline in high-paying customers, who were sidelined by the recession.

Passenger revenue per available seat mile, a closely watched indicator for airlines, fell 9 percent. Still, that was much better than the 17.9 percent and 17.7 percent declines of the previous two quarters, and a sign that deep discounting of fares may be slowing.

Chairman and CEO Jeff Smisek said some business traffic is increasing, but "we likely have a long and slow road to recovery."

Big U.S. airlines have been hit hard by the recession, which led to a slump in traffic in the U.S. and on trans-Atlantic routes. Continental's surprising profit comes a day after American Airlines said international bookings were running ahead of last year's pace and high-paying customers may be returning, raising hopes for a recovery in travel.

Continental and other airlines have also been helped by fees for checking baggage and other services, which made up for some of the decline in ticket revenue. This month, Continental raised its checked-bag fees.

The fourth-quarter profit provided an upbeat ending to Continental's second straight money-losing year.

For all of 2009, Continental lost $282 million, or $2.18 per share, as revenue plunged 17.4 percent, to $12.59 billion.

The company includes Continental Express and Continental Connection commuter airlines.

There was little premarket activity in Continental shares, which closed 19 cents higher Wednesday at $20.62.

Nice. They seem to do that a lot.

At the same time AA posts a 400 million dollar loss.

What's wrong with this picture ?

One quarter does not a year make.

Guess Lorenzo's........err Smisek's pay cut was short lived!

Sure the lost 282 million, but how much of that was fuel hedging losses. Did they make money before all the write offs.

Smisek was probably quite surprised by CAL's performance.

You could not be more correct.....

.....however on the flip side, a profitable quarter is better than a hard kick to the jewels.

Gotta start making a profit somewhere....why not now?? I don't believe anyone has said that the 4Q numbers are the end all to be all. Take a look around at the industry as a whole, no secret, things are less than 'rosey'. Any bit of good news is at least a start/turn in the right direction.

Not entirely true.

His 'deal' was not to take his annual CEO Salary until CAL turns a full profitable year.....over the 4Q's. The total 2009 numbers still reflected a lose (which was under Larry's Camp). Smisek has not even been CAL's CEO for more than a month to the present day. He (and all of his "CXO's")still has a lot work to do before he can cash on his bet of a full year of profitability.

---------f-u-p-m---------

Here comes the management bonuses......I'll give it til the summer.