Southwest Airlines Reports December Traffic

DALLAS, Jan. 8  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.0 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in December 2009, a 3.0 percent increase from the 5.8 billion RPMs flown in December 2008.  Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 5.8 percent to 7.8 billion from the December 2008 level of 8.3 billion.  The load factor for the month was 76.2 percent, compared to 69.7 percent for the same period last year.  For December 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased in the seven percent range as compared to December 2008.

For the fourth quarter 2009, Southwest flew 18.2 billion RPMs, compared to 17.3 billion RPMs for the same period in 2008, an increase of 5.3 percent.  Available seat miles decreased 7.7 percent to 23.5 billion from the fourth quarter 2008 level of 25.5 billion.  The fourth quarter 2009 load factor was 77.3 percent, compared to 67.8 percent for the same period last year.

For the year ended December 31, 2009, Southwest flew 74.5 billion RPMs, compared to 73.5 billion RPMs for the same period in 2008, an increase of 1.3 percent.  Available seat miles decreased 5.1 percent to 98.0 billion from the 2008 level of 103.3 billion.  The year-to-date load factor was 76.0 percent, compared to 71.2 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


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

  Revenue passengers carried    7,032,357      6,778,951            3.7%

  Enplaned passengers           8,354,947      7,964,829            4.9%

  Revenue passenger
   miles (000s)                 5,970,666      5,794,390            3.0%

  Available seat miles (000s)   7,832,819      8,318,347           (5.8)%

  Load factor                        76.2%          69.7%        6.5 pts.

  Average length of haul              849            855           (0.7)%

  Trips flown                      90,784         95,813           (5.2)%



                                            FOURTH QUARTER
                                  -------------------------------------
                                  2009           2008            CHANGE
                                  ----           ----            ------

  Revenue passengers carried   21,493,912     20,788,058            3.4%

  Enplaned passengers          25,386,440     23,974,845            5.9%

  Revenue passenger
   miles (000s)                18,175,033     17,265,177            5.3%

  Available seat
   miles (000s)                23,506,003     25,455,786           (7.7)%

  Load factor                        77.3%          67.8%        9.5 pts.

  Average length of haul              846            831            1.8%

  Trips flown                     272,740        292,392           (6.7)%



                                             YEAR-TO-DATE
                                  -------------------------------------
                                  2009           2008            CHANGE
                                  ----           ----            ------

  Revenue passengers carried   86,305,366     88,529,234           (2.5)%

  Enplaned passengers         101,338,228    101,920,598           (0.6)%

  Revenue passenger miles
   (000s)                      74,456,719     73,491,687            1.3%

  Available seat miles
   (000s)                      98,001,621    103,271,343           (5.1)%

  Load factor                        76.0%          71.2%        4.8 pts.

  Average length of haul              863            830            4.0%

  Trips flown                   1,125,111      1,191,151           (5.5)%


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DATASOURCE: Southwest Airlines Co.



CONTACT:  Investor Relations of Southwest Airlines Co., [phone]



Web Site:  http://southwest.com/ 

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