Continental Airlines announces pricing of public offering of convertible notes

Continental granted the underwriters of the notes a thirty-day option to purchase up to an additional $30 million aggregate principal amount of the notes solely to cover over-allotments. The net proceeds to Continental from this offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses, will be approximately $194.8 million. Continental expects to use the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes. The offering is expected to close Dec. 11, 2009, subject to customary closing conditions.

Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Citi and UBS Securities LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

The prospectus for the offering will also be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and will be available at the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov.

The notes will be issued pursuant to a shelf registration statement that was previously filed with the SEC. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the notes. An offering of the notes will be made only by means of a prospectus. The prospectus shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Statements in this press release contain "forward looking" information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Those factors include conditions in the financial markets and customary offering closing conditions. Please see Continental's filing with the SEC for certain other factors that may affect forward-looking information.