Continental unit revenue up 9-11 pct in December = = = = Thursday January 2, 6:35 PM EST = HOUSTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines (CAL) said on Thursday th= at unit revenue rose an estimated 9 percent to 11 percent in December fro= m the year earlier month that closely followed the Sept. 11 attacks, but = was down 5 percent to 7 percent compared to two years ago. Continental called the December unit revenue estimates encouraging, but s= aid they were aided by very strong Thanksgiving return days that fell in = December in 2002 instead of November and by a very strong year end travel= period that is not expected to continue throughout January. Continental, the No. 5 U.S. air carrier, said its systemwide load factor,= or percentage of paid capacity in use, rose 1.3 percentage points to 74.= 0 percent in December from a year earlier. Traffic rose 7 percent in Dece= mber from a year earlier and Continental ran a 5 percent larger capacity = than a year ago. Unit revenue, measured in revenue per available seat mile, fell 1.7 perce= nt in November from a year earlier and fell 18.4 percent compared to Nove= mber 2000, Continental said. = =A92002 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS