Southwest Airlines Reports August Traffic

DALLAS, Sept. 4  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.7 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in August 2009, a 1.0 percent increase from the 6.6 billion RPMs flown in August 2008.  Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 6.1 percent to 8.3 billion from the August 2008 level of 8.9 billion.  The load factor for the month was 80.2 percent, compared to 74.6 percent for the same period last year.  For August 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have decreased in the five to six percent range as compared to August 2008.

For the eight months ended August 31, 2009, Southwest flew 50.5 billion RPMs, compared to the 50.9 billion RPMs recorded for the same period of 2008, a decrease of 0.8 percent.  Available seat miles decreased 3.8 percent to 66.8 billion from the 2008 level of 69.4 billion.  The year-to-date load factor was 75.6 percent, compared to 73.3 percent for the same period last year.

This news release, as well as past news releases on Southwest, are available online at http://www.southwest.com/?src=INVRINVAUTR000000090904.

                            SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
                 PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS


                                                  AUGUST
                                                  ------

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


  Revenue passengers carried      7,515,594     7,751,835         (3.0)%

  Enplaned passengers             8,890,924     8,970,247         (0.9)%

  Revenue passenger miles (000)   6,693,859     6,630,104          1.0%

  Available seat miles (000)      8,343,899     8,882,141         (6.1)%

  Load factor                         80.2%         74.6%       5.6 pts.

  Average length of haul                891           855          4.2%

  Trips flown                        95,405       101,433         (5.9)%




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

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


  Revenue passengers carried     58,028,919    61,317,033         (5.4)%

  Enplaned passengers            68,001,351    70,592,742         (3.7)%

  Revenue passenger miles (000)  50,509,694    50,919,072         (0.8)%

  Available seat miles (000)     66,772,132    69,439,029         (3.8)%

  Load factor                         75.6%         73.3%       2.3 pts.

  Average length of haul                870           830          4.8%

  Trips flown                       762,874       802,812         (5.0)%


http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040715/DATH028-a

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010718/SWNULOOK

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010724/SWALOGO

http://photoarchive.ap.org/

DATASOURCE: Southwest Airlines



CONTACT:  Investor Relations of Southwest Airlines, [phone]



Web Site:  http://www.southwest.com/ 

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