Southwest Airlines Reports November Traffic

DALLAS, Dec. 4  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 5.9 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in November 2009, an 11.7 percent increase from the 5.3 billion RPMs flown in November 2008.  Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 7.7 percent to 7.7 billion from the November 2008 level of 8.3 billion.  The load factor for the month was 76.5 percent, compared to 63.2 percent for the same period last year.  For November 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased in the 12 percent range as compared to November 2008.

For the eleven months ended November 30, 2009, Southwest flew 68.5 billion RPMs, compared to 67.7 billion RPMs for the same period in 2008, an increase of 1.2 percent.  Available seat miles decreased 5.0 percent to 90.2 billion from the 2008 level of 95.0 billion.  The year-to-date load factor was 76.0 percent, compared to 71.3 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


                                          NOVEMBER
                             -----------------------------------

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

  Revenue passengers
   carried                   7,015,636   6,519,788        7.6 %

  Enplaned passengers        8,255,414   7,447,454       10.8 %

  Revenue passenger miles
   (000)                     5,879,163   5,263,205       11.7 %

  Available seat miles
   (000)                     7,686,018   8,325,287       (7.7)%

  Load factor                     76.5%       63.2%   13.3 pts.

  Average length of haul           838         807        3.8 %

  Trips flown                   89,286      95,355       (6.4)%





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


  Revenue passengers carried    79,259,652  81,750,283       (3.0)%

  Enplaned passengers           92,983,281  93,955,769       (1.0)%

  Revenue passenger miles
   (000)                        68,486,053  67,697,297        1.2 %

  Available seat miles (000)    90,168,802  94,952,996       (5.0)%

  Load factor                        76.0%       71.3%     4.7 pts.

  Average length of haul               864         828        4.3 %

  Trips flown                    1,034,327   1,095,338       (5.6)%


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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