Continental posts profit as fares rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Continental Airlines Inc (CAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday posted a fourth-quarter profit as higher fares and more international flights helped offset soaring fuel costs.

The fourth-largest U.S. carrier said pretax profit in the quarter was $71 million compared with a loss of $26 million a year ago.

Continental did not report a net profit figure because it said it had not yet finalized a special non-cash charge it expected to take in the fourth quarter.

The company said on Wednesday it expects that charge -- related mainly to changes in pension plan calculations -- to be between $70 million and $140 million.

Excluding one-time items, Continental said it posted a pre-tax profit of $24 million compared to a year-ago loss of $4 million.

Based on 98.1 million shares outstanding as of October 12, pretax profit was 72 cents per share, or 24 cents excluding items.

While there was no comparative figure expected by Wall Street analysts, they were, on average, forecasting Continental earnings of 2 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Continental said fourth-quarter operating revenue rose 12 percent to $3.52 billion, boosted by a 27.5 percent jump in trans-Atlantic passenger revenue.

Wall Street analysts, on average, expected Continental to post revenue of $3.51 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.