Texas Air Posts $224-Million Loss

Texas Air Corp., the nation’s largest airline company, reported a $224.4-million fourth-quarter loss Thursday, attributing the results to travails that ranged from federal safety investigations to labor-management turmoil at its Eastern and Continental subsidiaries.

The performance for October through December compared to a $265.6-million loss in the year-earlier period and widened the overall 1988 loss to $718.6 million--54% greater than the $466.2 million that Texas Air lost in 1987.

Miami-based Eastern reported losses of $101.7 million for the quarter on revenue of $844.4 million. That compared to a loss of $143.4 million on revenue of $1 billion in the 1987 period.

Houston-based Continental incurred a fourth-quarter loss of $99.2 million on revenue of $1.1 billion. During the same period in 1987, Continental lost $78.8 million on revenue of $1.1 billion.