Southwest Airlines Reports September Traffic

DALLAS, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.1 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in September 2010, a 5.1 percent increase from the 5.8 billion RPMs flown in September 2009. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 4.7 percent to 8.1 billion from the September 2009 level of 7.7 billion. The load factor for the month was 75.0 percent, compared to 74.7 percent for the same period last year. For September 2010, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased approximately eleven percent as compared to September 2009.

For the third quarter 2010, Southwest flew 20.7 billion RPMs, compared to the 19.7 billion RPMs flown for the same period in 2009, an increase of 4.9 percent. Available seat miles increased 3.2 percent to 25.6 billion from the third quarter 2009 level of 24.8 billion. The third quarter 2010 load factor was 80.9 percent, compared to 79.6 percent for the same period last year.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2010, Southwest flew 58.0 billion RPMs, compared to the 56.3 billion RPMs flown for the same period in 2009, an increase of 3.1 percent. Available seat miles decreased 1.1 percent to 73.6 billion from the 2009 level of 74.5 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 78.8 percent, compared to 75.6 percent for the same period last year.

This release, as well as past news releases on Southwest, are available online at southwest.com.


                              SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

                              PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS



                               SEPTEMBER



                               2010        2009        CHANGE





Revenue passengers carried     6,929,811   6,778,713   2.2 %



Enplaned passengers            8,309,821   7,950,437   4.5 %



Revenue passenger miles (000)  6,064,311   5,771,993   5.1 %



Available seat miles (000)     8,083,556   7,723,485   4.7 %



Load factor                    75.0%       74.7%       0.3 pts.



Average length of haul         875         851         2.8 %



Trips flown                    91,143      89,497      1.8 %







                               THIRD QUARTER



                               2010        2009        CHANGE





Revenue passengers carried     22,871,775  22,375,590  2.2 %



Enplaned passengers            27,814,896  26,396,360  5.4 %



Revenue passenger miles (000)  20,673,082  19,706,579  4.9 %



Available seat miles (000)     25,557,692  24,771,016  3.2 %



Load factor                    80.9%       79.6%       1.3 pts.



Average length of haul         904         881         2.6 %



Trips flown                    287,200     283,663     1.2 %







                               YEAR-TO-DATE



                               2010        2009        CHANGE





Revenue passengers carried     65,732,032  64,811,451  1.4 %



Enplaned passengers            79,063,561  75,951,788  4.1 %



Revenue passenger miles (000)  58,041,024  56,281,687  3.1 %



Available seat miles (000)     73,648,997  74,495,618  (1.1)%



Load factor                    78.8%       75.6%       3.2 pts.



Average length of haul         883         868         1.7 %



Trips flown                    836,314     852,371     (1.9)%

SOURCE Southwest Airlines

Released October 7, 2010