Southwest Airlines Reports September Traffic

DALLAS, Oct. 7  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 5.8 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in September 2009, an 8.8 percent increase from the 5.3 billion RPMs flown in September 2008.  Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 7.8 percent to 7.7 billion from the September 2008 level of 8.4 billion.  The load factor for the month was 74.7 percent, compared to 63.4 percent for the same period last year.  For September 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased in the three percent range as compared to September 2008.

For the third quarter 2009, Southwest flew 19.7 billion RPMs, compared to the 18.8 billion RPMs recorded for the same period in 2008, an increase of 4.7 percent.  Available seat miles decreased 5.8 percent to 24.8 billion from the third quarter 2008 level of 26.3 billion.  The third quarter 2009 load factor was 79.6 percent, compared to 71.6 percent for the same period last year.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2009, Southwest flew 56.3 billion RPMs, compared to the 56.2 billion RPMs recorded for the same period in 2008, an increase of 0.1 percent.  Available seat miles decreased 4.3 percent to 74.5 billion from the 2008 level of 77.8 billion.  The year-to-date load factor was 75.6 percent, compared to 72.3 percent for the same period last year.

This press releases, as well as past releases on Southwest, are available online at http://www.southwest.com/?src=INVRINVSETR000000091007.

                               SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
                         PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC
                                     STATISTICS


                                                  SEPTEMBER
                                                  ---------

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


  Revenue passengers carried      6,777,496       6,424,143         5.5%

  Enplaned passengers             7,950,437       7,353,011         8.1%

  Revenue passenger miles (000)   5,771,993       5,307,438         8.8%

  Available seat miles (000)      7,723,485       8,376,529        (7.8)%

  Load factor                          74.7%           63.4%     11.3 pts.

  Average length of haul                852             826         3.1%

  Trips flown                        89,497          95,947        (6.7)%



                                                THIRD QUARTER
                                                -------------

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


  Revenue passengers carried     22,373,892      22,243,013         0.6%

  Enplaned passengers            26,396,360      25,686,181         2.8%

  Revenue passenger miles (000)  19,706,579      18,822,810         4.7%

  Available seat miles (000)     24,771,016      26,287,035        (5.8)%

  Load factor                          79.6%           71.6%      8.0 pts.

  Average length of haul                881             846         4.1%

  Trips flown                       283,663         300,537        (5.6)%



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

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


  Revenue passengers carried     64,810,234      67,741,176        (4.3)%

  Enplaned passengers            75,951,788      77,945,753        (2.6)%

  Revenue passenger miles (000)  56,281,687      56,226,510         0.1%

  Available seat miles (000)     74,495,618      77,815,557        (4.3)%

  Load factor                          75.6%           72.3%     3.3 pts.

  Average length of haul                868             830         4.6%

  Trips flown                       852,371         898,759        (5.2)%


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/ 

Copyright