HOUSTON -- "Break-even status" is the ultimate financial goal for Continental Airlines in the new year, even though there are some signs that the U.S. airline industry may finally be climbing out of its prolonged slump.
"It doesn't sound very ambitious, but it is when you look at the magnitude of losses made in our industry," Continental Chairman Gordon Bethune said recently in a meeting with the media at the airline's headquarters in Houston.
Bethune was referring to bankruptcies and huge losses many American airlines have suffered since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and other setbacks, including the SARS epidemic in Asia, the war in Iraq and the global economic slump.