Southwest Airlines Reports November Traffic

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Southwest Airlines Reports November Traffic

DALLAS, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ —

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.5 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in November 2010, a 10.7 percent increase from the 5.9 billion RPMs flown in November 2009. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 5.7 percent to 8.1 billion from the November 2009 level of 7.7 billion. The load factor for the month was 80.1 percent, compared to 76.5 percent for the same period last year. For November 2010, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased in the seven to eight percent range as compared to November 2009.

For the eleven months ended November 30, 2010, Southwest flew 71.4 billion RPMs, compared to 68.5 billion RPMs flown for the same period in 2009, an increase of 4.3 percent. Available seat miles remained flat from the November 2009 level of 90.2 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 79.2 percent, compared to 76.0 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
		2010		2009		CHANGE
Revenue passengers carried		7,362,817		7,028,993		4.7 %
Enplaned passengers		8,858,830		8,255,414		7.3 %
Revenue passenger miles (000)		6,506,882		5,879,163		10.7 %
Available seat miles (000)		8,127,548		7,686,018		5.7 %
Load factor		80.1%		76.5%		3.6 pts.
Average length of haul		884		836		5.7 %
Trips flown		91,159		89,286		2.1 %
		YEAR-TO-DATE
		2010		2009		CHANGE
Revenue passengers carried		80,901,928		79,273,009		2.1 %
Enplaned passengers		97,281,181		92,983,281		4.6 %
Revenue passenger miles (000)		71,398,991		68,486,053		4.3 %
Available seat miles (000)		90,166,606		90,168,802		-
Load factor		79.2%		76.0%		3.2 pts.
Average length of haul		883		864		2.2 %
Trips flown		1,021,956		1,034,327		(1.2)%

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.