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DALLAS --

Continental Airlines Inc. earned a surprising profit in the fourth quarter thanks to higher traffic and lower fuel spending.

Continental said Thursday that it earned $85 million in the quarter.

Without some special items, including an income tax gain, the company would have earned $4 million, or 3 cents per share. Analysts expected a loss of 7 cents per share.

The biggest difference from a year ago was spending on fuel, which plunged by about one-third, as prices were much lower than they were in late 2008. The airline spent $388 million less on fuel than it did a year earlier.

Houston-based Continental, the nation's fourth-largest airline, boosted passenger traffic by 3.5 percent in the quarter including its commuter airline affiliates.

But revenue fell 8.3 percent, to $3.18 billion, because of a decline in high-paying customers, who were sidelined by the recession.

Passenger revenue per available seat mile, a closely watched indicator for airlines, fell 9 percent. Still, that was much better than the 17.9 percent and 17.7 percent declines of the previous two quarters, and a sign that deep discounting of fares may be slowing.

Chairman and CEO Jeff Smisek said some business traffic is increasing, but "we likely have a long and slow road to recovery."