Continental $2.2 Billion in Red During 4th Quarter

Continental Airlines Holdings Inc., parent of Continental Airlines, on Thursday reported a record fourth-quarter loss of $2.2 billion, nearly half from writeoffs in the liquidation of sister Eastern Airlines.

It was one of the biggest quarterly financial losses recorded by an American corporation. It pushed Continental’s yearly results to a net loss of $2.3 billion. The airline said it had taken a list of writeoffs all at once to put parts of its troubled past behind it.

Continental cited its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and the industry’s widespread troubles stemming from the recession and the Gulf War

The loss came on revenue of $1.4 billion. In the same 1989 period, the company lost $362.8 million on revenue of $1.7 billion.

Continental Airlines Holdings reported a $2.3-billion loss for all of 1990 that included $1.8 billion in one-time charges, compared to a loss of $886 million in 1989. Revenue for 1990 was $6.23 billion, down from $6.68 billion the previous year.