Southwest Airlines flew 11.5 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in July 2015; 8.2% increase vs July 2014

DALLAS, 2015-8-11 — /Travel PR News/ — Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the “Company”) today reported its July and year-to-date preliminary traffic statistics. The Company flew 11.5 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in July 2015, an 8.2 percent increase from the 10.6 billion RPMs flown in July 2014. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 7.0 percent to 13.1 billion in July 2015, compared with the July 2014 level of 12.3 billion. The July 2015 load factor was an all-time record 87.7 percent, compared with 86.7 percent in July 2014. Based on these results and current trends, the Company estimates its third quarter 2015 operating revenue per ASM (RASM) will decrease approximately 1.0 percent, compared with third quarter 2014.

For the first seven months of 2015, the Company flew 68.2 billion RPMs, compared with 63.4 billion RPMs flown for the same period in 2014, an increase of 7.6 percent. Year-to-date ASMs increased 6.6 percent to a level of 81.9 billion, compared with the 76.8 billion for the same period in 2014. The year-to-date load factor was 83.3 percent, compared with 82.5 percent for the same period in 2014.

This release, as well as past news releases about Southwest Airlines Co., is available online at Southwest.com.

Southwest Airlines Co.

Preliminary Comparative Traffic Statistics

JULY

2015

2014

Change

Revenue passengers carried

11,042,296

10,311,076

7.1%

Enplaned passengers

13,628,493

12,808,749

6.4%

Revenue passenger miles (000s)

11,503,195

10,632,595

8.2%

Available seat miles (000s)

13,120,858

12,259,044

7.0%

Load factor

87.7%

86.7%

1.0 pts.

Average length of haul

1,042

1,031

1.1%

Trips flown

115,017

113,099

1.7%

YEAR-TO-DATE

2015

2014

Change

Revenue passengers carried

68,286,034

64,521,999

5.8%

Enplaned passengers

83,397,735

79,255,470

5.2%

Revenue passenger miles (000s)

68,222,442

63,377,909

7.6%

Available seat miles (000s)

81,894,353

76,829,838

6.6%

Load factor

83.3%

82.5%

0.8 pts.

Average length of haul

999

982

1.7%

Trips flown

737,896

740,080

(0.3)%

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.