Southwest Airlines Reports May Traffic

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DALLAS, June 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.4 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in May 2009, a 3.6 percent decrease from the 6.7 billion RPMs flown in May 2008. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 3.2 percent to 8.6 billion from the May 2008 level of 8.9 billion. The load factor for the month was 74.6 percent, compared to 74.9 percent for the same period last year. For May 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have decreased in the nine percent range as compared to May 2008.

For the five months ended May 31, 2009, Southwest flew 29.8 billion RPMs, compared to the 30.5 billion RPMs recorded for the same period of 2008, a decrease of 2.2 percent. Available seat miles decreased 3.4 percent to 41.3 billion from the 2008 level of 42.7 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 72.3 percent, compared to 71.4 percent for the same period last year.

This release, as well as past news releases on Southwest, are available online at http://www.southwest.com/?src=INVRINVMYTR000000090603.


                            SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
                  PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS

                                                     MAY
                                     -------------------------------------

                                       2009          2008          CHANGE
                                     --------       -------       --------


    Revenue passengers carried       7,470,271     8,143,173        (8.3)%

    Enplaned passengers              8,685,825     9,304,834        (6.7)%

    Revenue passenger miles (000)    6,434,369     6,672,655        (3.6)%

    Available seat miles (000)       8,624,950     8,914,187        (3.2)%

    Load factor                           74.6%         74.9%   (0.3) pts.

    Average length of haul                 861           819         5.1%

    Trips flown                         97,273       102,294        (4.9)%




                                                 YEAR-TO-DATE
                                    ---------------------------------------

                                       2009          2008          CHANGE
                                    ---------      --------      ----------


    Revenue passengers carried      34,781,474    37,315,154        (6.8)%

    Enplaned passengers             40,550,319    42,807,847        (5.3)%

    Revenue passenger miles (000)   29,843,854    30,526,198        (2.2)%

    Available seat miles (000)      41,260,136    42,733,005        (3.4)%

    Load factor                           72.3%         71.4%     0.9 pts.

    Average length of haul                 858           818         4.9%

    Trips flown                        472,865       497,391        (4.9)%

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

Released June 3, 2009