=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/06/10/f= inancial1503EDT0182.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, June 10, 2003 (AP) Continental Airlines sees traffic uptick (06-10) 12:03 PDT (AP) -- CHICAGO (Dow Jones/AP) -- Continental Airlines Inc. said Tuesday it is seeing stronger passenger traffic in the current quarter. But Gordon Bethune, chairman and chief executive of the nation's fifth-largest airline, said the company's long-term financial plans still don't assume that revenue will improve from current weak levels. Bethune told analysts at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in New York that once the summer travel season is over, the outlook for fall business travel is still in question. The Houston-based company is doing a little better than planned on a massive cost-cutting program to reduce expenses by $400 million this year and $500 million in 2004, which should result in a return to profitability next year. Continental expects to end the second quarter with $1.5 billion in cash, the strongest cash position in its history, Bethune said. While other airlines have worked to cut labor costs, Continental continu= es to believe its wage and work rules are competitive as they stand. Capital spending now is "about as skinny as it can get," the executive said, adding that the airline has its major spending -- for aircraft and airport facilities -- behind it. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP