Southwest Airlines Reports September Traffic

DALLAS, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. announced today that the Company flew 5.2 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in September 2006, a 9.8 percent increase from the 4.7 billion RPMs flown in September 2005. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 10.1 percent to 7.7 billion from the September 2005 level of 7.0 billion. The load factor for the month was 67.2 percent, compared to 67.4 percent for the same period last year.

For the third quarter 2006, Southwest flew 17.8 billion RPMs, compared to the 16.4 billion RPMs recorded for the same period in 2005, an increase of 8.6 percent. Available seat miles increased 8.8 percent to 23.8 billion from the third quarter 2005 level of 21.9 billion. The third quarter 2006 load factor was 74.7 percent, compared to 74.9 percent for the same period last year.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2006, Southwest flew 50.9 billion RPMs, compared to the 45.1 billion RPMs recorded for the same period in 2005, an increase of 12.9 percent. Available seat miles increased 8.4 percent to 68.7 billion from the 2005 level of 63.4 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 74.0 percent, compared to 71.1 percent for the same period last year.

This press release, as well as past releases on Southwest, are available online at http://www.southwest.com/?src=IR_sepTraf_100306

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS SEPTEMBER 2006 2005 CHANGE Revenue passengers carried 6,571,609 6,178,185 6.4% Enplaned passengers 7,458,995 6,986,126 6.8% Revenue passenger miles (000) 5,196,426 4,734,112 9.8% Available seat miles (000) 7,732,154 7,021,469 10.1% Load factor 67.2% 67.4% (0.2) pts. Average length of haul 791 766 3.3% Trips flown 90,527 83,636 8.2% THIRD QUARTER 2006 2005 CHANGE Revenue passengers carried 21,571,968 20,637,620 4.5% Enplaned passengers 24,880,646 23,595,749 5.4% Revenue passenger miles (000) 17,767,131 16,365,420 8.6% Available seat miles (000) 23,784,615 21,853,579 8.8% Load factor 74.7% 74.9% (0.2) pts. Average length of haul 824 793 3.9% Trips flown 279,032 261,812 6.6% YEAR-TO-DATE 2006 2005 CHANGE Revenue passengers carried 62,770,712 58,208,534 7.8% Enplaned passengers 72,202,988 66,154,155 9.1% Revenue passenger miles (000) 50,891,476 45,083,739 12.9% Available seat miles (000) 68,748,057 63,424,106 8.4% Load factor 74.0% 71.1% 2.9 pts. Average length of haul 811 775 4.6% Trips flown 812,428 769,262 5.6%