Southwest Airlines Reports June Traffic

DALLAS, July 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) today reported June 2011 traffic results for Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways. AirTran Airways became a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co. ("the Company") on May 2, 2011. For purposes of comparability, the Company is providing combined traffic results for Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways for periods prior to the acquisition date. See the accompanying tables for combined and individual results.

The Company flew 9.6 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in June 2011, compared to 9.0 billion combined RPMs flown in June 2010, an increase of 7.5 percent. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 6.2 percent to 11.5 billion from the June 2010 combined level of 10.8 billion. The load factor for June 2011 was 83.9 percent, compared to the combined load factor of 82.8 percent in June 2010.

For June 2011, Southwest Airlines' passenger revenue per ASM (excluding AirTran Airways) is estimated to have increased approximately five percent as compared to June 2010.

For the second quarter 2011, the Company flew 27.6 billion combined RPMs, compared to 25.4 billion combined RPMs flown for the same period in 2010, an increase of 8.8 percent. The combined second quarter 2011 ASMs increased 6.0 percent to 33.6 billion, compared to the combined level of 31.7 billion for the same period in 2010. The combined second quarter 2011 load factor was 82.2 percent, compared to the combined load factor of 80.1 percent for the same period in 2010.

For the first half of 2011, the Company flew 51.4 billion combined RPMs, compared to 46.9 billion combined RPMs flown for the same period in 2010, an increase of 9.4 percent. The combined year-to-date ASMs increased 6.5 percent to 63.9 billion in 2011, compared to the combined level of 60.0 billion for the same period in 2010. The combined year-to-date load factor was 80.4 percent, compared to the combined load factor of 78.2 percent for the same period in 2010.

This release, as well as past news releases about Southwest Airlines Co., is available online at southwest.com.



            SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

            PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE COMBINED TRAFFIC STATISTICS



            JUNE                          SECOND QUARTER                YEAR-TO-DATE



            2011       2010       CHANGE  2011       2010       CHANGE  2011       2010       CHANGE





Revenue
passengers
carried     9,893,940  9,573,930  3.3 %   28,826,848 27,997,507 3.0 %   54,408,243 52,308,579 4.0 %



Enplaned
passengers  12,249,428 11,883,202 3.1 %   35,559,232 34,084,746 4.3 %   66,753,484 63,298,260 5.5 %



Revenue
passenger
miles
(000)       9,630,540  8,958,462  7.5 %   27,646,263 25,403,034 8.8 %   51,361,693 46,945,728 9.4 %



Available
seat miles
(000)       11,485,357 10,817,312 6.2 %   33,639,005 31,722,856 6.0 %   63,902,550 60,015,014 6.5 %



Load                              1.1                           2.1                           2.2
factor      83.9%      82.8%      pts.    82.2%      80.1%      pts.    80.4%      78.2%      pts.



Average
length of
haul        973        936        4.0 %   959        907        5.7 %   944        897        5.2 %



Trips
flown       122,783    118,997    3.2 %   362,691    352,352    2.9 %   696,258    674,142    3.3 %



            SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

            PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS



            JUNE                        SECOND QUARTER                YEAR-TO-DATE



            2011      2010      CHANGE  2011       2010       CHANGE  2011       2010       CHANGE





Revenue
passengers
carried     8,050,632 7,750,146 3.9 %   23,494,933 22,883,422 2.7 %   44,610,048 42,860,257 4.1 %



Enplaned
passengers  9,924,612 9,562,142 3.8 %   28,854,794 27,554,201 4.7 %   54,453,912 51,248,665 6.3 %



Revenue
passenger
miles
(000)       7,692,976 7,066,096 8.9 %   22,109,453 20,206,229 9.4 %   41,305,339 37,367,943 10.5 %



Available
seat miles
(000)       9,212,639 8,627,117 6.8 %   27,009,689 25,471,845 6.0 %   51,515,363 48,091,305 7.1 %



Load                            1.6                           2.6                           2.5
factor      83.5%     81.9%     pts.    81.9%      79.3%      pts.    80.2%      77.7%      pts.



Average
length of
haul        956       912       4.8 %   941        883        6.6 %   926        872        6.2 %



Trips
flown       100,180   96,753    3.5 %   296,151    287,222    3.1 %   569,974    549,114    3.8 %



            AIRTRAN AIRWAYS

            PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS*



            JUNE                        SECOND QUARTER              YEAR-TO-DATE



            2011      2010      CHANGE  2011      2010      CHANGE  2011       2010       CHANGE





Revenue
passengers
carried     1,843,308 1,823,784 1.1 %   5,331,915 5,114,085 4.3 %   9,798,195  9,448,322  3.7 %



Enplaned
passengers  2,324,816 2,321,060 0.2 %   6,704,438 6,530,545 2.7 %   12,299,572 12,049,595 2.1 %



Revenue
passenger
miles
(000)       1,937,564 1,892,366 2.4 %   5,536,810 5,196,805 6.5 %   10,056,354 9,577,785  5.0 %



Available
seat miles
(000)       2,272,718 2,190,195 3.8 %   6,629,316 6,251,011 6.1 %   12,387,187 11,923,709 3.9 %



Load                            (1.1)                       0.4                           0.9
factor      85.3%     86.4%     pts.    83.5%     83.1%     pts.    81.2%      80.3%      pts.



Average
length of
haul        1,051     1,038     1.3 %   1,038     1,016     2.2 %   1,026      1,014      1.2 %



Trips
flown       22,603    22,244    1.6 %   66,540    65,130    2.2 %   126,284    125,028    1.0 %



*AirTran Airways' traffic statistics have been adjusted to conform
to Southwest Airlines' presentation.

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

Released July 8, 2011