Continental Airlines says Iraq war to cost it $250 million CHICAGO (Reuters) =97 The president of Continental Airlines said Tuesday he= =20 expected the war in Iraq to cost the carrier $250 million on a pre-tax=20 basis, though he said transatlantic bookings were beginning to bounce back= =20 after a decline related to the war. President Larry Kellner also said in a= =20 conference call that he expected domestic capacity to be down 6% in the=20 second quarter. He predicted transatlantic capacity would be off 6% and=20 Pacific capacity down 12% in the second quarter. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Misner said he expected domestic revenue per=20 available seat mile, or RASM, to be flat in April compared with the year=20 earlier. RASM is a key industry measure that shows how much money the=20 airline pulls in per unit. Earlier Tuesday, Continental posted a wider first-quarter loss as the Iraq= =20 war caused fuel prices to spike and sapped demand for air travel. The=20 carrier's quarterly loss climbed to $221 million, or $3.38 per share. A=20 year earlier, it posted a net loss of $166 million, or $2.61 a share. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************