At least one US air carrier is seeing brighter skies these days: Continental won Standard & Poor’s top rank.
Why?
Labor-cost reductions, higher revenues and fuller flights led S&P’s Equity Research Services to find signs of an improving financial picture.
S&P predicts Continental may return to profitability in 2006, but cites one continuing problem: high fuel prices.
Continental is the sixth-largest airline in the US, measured by revenue passenger miles.
Overall, S&P found the growth in airline passenger levels and fuller flights as encouraging signs for the future.
“We expect industry conditions to improve slightly in 2005,” said S&P.
Report by David Wilkening
