Continental Expects to Show a Profit if Court OKs Plan

Continental Airlines, nearing the end of its bankruptcy reorganization case, said Wednesday it expects to see profit this year and will scale back its orders for new planes by $1 billion.

Parent company Continental Airlines Holdings Inc. said the Houston-based airline expects to show net and operating profits through 1996 if its reorganization plan is approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

“The company will achieve . . . and maintain profitability,” John Luth, Continental’s chief financial officer, testified during court hearings on the plan. He said the airline will show an operating loss of $181 million in January-April, 1993, before emerging from bankruptcy.

But the loss would be offset by a $795-million infusion as it clears debt off its books, thus giving Continental a net profit of $567 million for the period.

Continental is forecasting an operating profit of $168.3 million and a net profit of $26.9 million for the rest of 1993.

For 1994 it forecasts an operating profit of $26.9 million and a net profit of $79.3 million, Luth said.