Continental expects cash, stock price, bookings to improve HOUSTON (AP) =97 Continental Airlines says it expects to have more= passengers=20 on flights this year than last year and that it will see an increase this=20 year in summer booking over the previous year. The Houston-based carrier=20 said Thursday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that= =20 its load factor =97 the percentage of seats filled on aircraft =97 should be= =20 about 75 percent to 76 percent for the second quarter and about 73 percent= =20 to 74 percent for the year, based on an expected increase in traffic.=20 "Domestic bookings for the summer look relatively good compared to last=20 year, and we expect load factors will be up year-over-year on reduced=20 capacity," Continental said in a letter to investors and analysts. The airline said it expects to have a cash balance of more than $1.5=20 billion at the end of the second quarter. In the second quarter of 2002,=20 the carrier had a cash balance of $1.3 billion. Continental said it lost=20 about $451 million last year. Most other major carriers also reported huge= =20 losses in 2002. The carrier said that in June and July it will restore most= =20 of the trans-Atlantic capacity that had been reduced to levels of a year=20 ago. Jamie Baker, an airline analyst with J.P. Morgan, said Continental's=20 statements gave further evidence of a recovery in the airline industry. But= =20 he warned that rising prices for airline stocks have outpaced the recovery.= =20 In trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, Continental shares_ which= =20 gained 56 cents Thursday =97 fell 2 cents to $14.60. After dipping near $4= in=20 March, they have climbed back to levels last seen in July 2002. *************************************************** 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/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************