Continental Offers New Discount Fares : Travel: The airline will cut prices up to 50% this fall on tickets for U.S. flights.

Continental Airlines said Tuesday that it is offering tickets at a discount of as much as 50% this fall, just a week and a half after its last fare sale ended.

The airline said it plans to cut fares on U.S. travel for tickets sold Sept. 7-16, reducing its New York-to-Los Angeles fare to $159 one way, from a regular discount fare of $321.

That discount matches the one Continental announced last month, when it cut fares for tickets sold Aug. 12-26. After it announced that sale, most other major U.S. airlines matched the discounts.

Continental said it hopes to keep people flying in the wake of the good summer experienced by airlines.

“We think that strong summer traffic was a harbinger of better-than-usual demand in the post-Labor Day period as well,” said Don Valentine, senior vice president for marketing and sales at parent Continental Airlines Holding Inc.

“This sale is intended to be a follow-up opportunity for everyone who might have missed a chance during the summer to lock in a low fare for fall travel,” he said.

Indeed, Continental’s load factor, or the percentage of available seats it fills with paying customers, rose 1.6 percentage points to 69% for July compared to a year earlier.

For the first seven months of 1994, the airline’s load factor is up 0.7 points to 63.3%. It hasn’t announced figures for August.

Continental’s latest fare cuts apply to domestic travel between Sept. 21 and Dec. 14, stretching the travel period four days from the last sale’s cutoff date. The fares aren’t available on Nov. 23, 27 or 28, Continental said.

Domestic travel tickets must be purchased within 24 hours of making reservations, are non-refundable and require a Friday or Saturday night stay.

Tickets are also available for some international flights, including Latin America and the Caribbean, the airline said. It did not elaborate.