Continental Airlines To Offer $390 Million In Debt

DALLAS (AP) — Continental Airlines Inc. hopes to raise $390 million by selling notes backed by aircraft it owns or will buy soon.

The notes, called enhanced equipment trust certificates or EETCs, were commonly used by airlines to finance planes in the 1990s. But like other forms of financing, airlines have found the EETC market virtually closed off in the past year.

Continental, the nation's fourth-largest airline, said in a regulatory filing late Tuesday that proceeds from the notes would finance the purchase of five new planes and refinance 12 aircraft that it bought in 1998 and 1999. ...