Southwest Airlines Reports October Traffic

DALLAS, Nov. 5  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.3 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in October 2009, a 1.9 percent increase from the 6.2 billion RPMs flown in October 2008.  Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 9.4 percent to 8.0 billion from the October 2008 level of 8.8 billion.  The load factor for the month was 79.2 percent, compared to 70.4 percent for the same period last year.  For October 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased in the one percent range as compared to October 2008.

For the ten months ended October 31, 2009, Southwest flew 62.6 billion RPMs, compared to 62.4 billion RPMs for the same period in 2008, an increase of 0.3 percent.  Available seat miles decreased 4.8 percent to 82.5 billion from the 2008 level of 86.6 billion.  The year-to-date load factor was 75.9 percent, compared to 72.1 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

                                                   OCTOBER
                                                   -------

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

  Revenue passengers carried     7,435,140     7,489,319       (0.7)%

  Enplaned passengers            8,776,079     8,562,562         2.5%

  Revenue passenger miles (000)  6,325,204     6,207,582         1.9%

  Available seat miles (000)     7,987,167     8,812,152       (9.4)%

  Load factor                         79.2%         70.4%    8.8 pts.

  Average length of haul               851           829         2.7%

  Trips flown                       92,670       101,224       (8.5)%




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

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

  Revenue passengers carried    72,246,591    75,230,495       (4.0)%

  Enplaned passengers           84,727,867    86,508,315       (2.1)%

  Revenue passenger miles (000) 62,606,891    62,434,092         0.3%

  Available seat miles (000)    82,482,784    86,627,709       (4.8)%

  Load factor                         75.9%         72.1%    3.8 pts.

  Average length of haul               867           830         4.5%

  Trips flown                      945,041       999,983       (5.5)%


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 Co.



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



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

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