Southwest Airlines July Traffic up 5.9% YoY

Southwest Airlines Co. LUV today reported July 2011 combined traffic results for Southwest Airlines and AirTran. AirTran became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co. on May 2, 2011. For purposes of comparability, the Company is providing combined traffic results for Southwest Airlines and AirTran for periods prior to the acquisition date. See the accompanying tables for combined results. The Company flew 10.0 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in July 2011, compared to 9.5 billion combined RPMs flown in July 2010, an increase of 5.9 percent. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 6.6 percent to 11.8 billion from the July 2010 combined level of 11.1 billion. The load factor for July 2011 was 85.1 percent, compared to the combined load factor of 85.6 percent in July 2010. For July 2011, passenger revenue per ASM (PRASM) is estimated to have increased approximately one percent as compared to July 2010's combined PRASM.