Southwest Airlines Reports August Traffic Up 13.8 Percent
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) announced today that the Company flew 3.4 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in August 1999, a 13.8 percent increase from the 2.9 billion RPMs flown in August 1998. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 11.4 percent to 4.6 billion from the August 1998 level of 4.2 billion. The load factor for the month was 72.2 percent, up 1.5 points from August 1998.
Herbert D. Kelleher, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "We are pleased with our August 1999 traffic results. Bookings for September also look good and suggest another strong traffic result. We are also pleased with our third quarter-to-date revenue growth. Through late August, year-over-year unit revenue growth for third quarter 1999 has generally ranged between one and two percent."
For the first eight months of 1999, Southwest flew 24.3 billion RPMs, compared with the 21.1 billion RPMs recorded for the same period of 1998, an increase of 15.2 percent. Available seat miles increased 10.4 percent to 34.5 billion from the comparable 1998 level of 31.3 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 70.4 percent, up 3.0 points from the same period last year.
This press release, as well as past releases, can be accessed on the Southwest Airlines internet site at: http://www.southwest.com/.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS
AUGUST 1999
| AUGUST | ||||||
| 1999 | 1998 | CHANGE | ||||
| Revenue passengers carried | 5,138,640 | 4,737,080 | 8.5% | |||
| Revenue passenger miles (000) | 3,352,825 | 2,947,022 | 13.8% | |||
| Available seat miles (000) | 4,646,757 | 4,170,586 | 11.4% | |||
| Load factor | 72.2% | 70.7% | 1.5 pts. | |||
| Average length of haul | 652 | 622 | 4.8% | |||
| Trips flown | 73,783 | 69,995 | 5.4% | |||
| YEAR-TO-DATE | ||||||
| 1999 | 1998 | CHANGE | ||||
| Revenue passengers carried | 38,066,247 | 35,150,206 | 8.3% | |||
| Revenue passenger miles (000) | 24,278,815 | 21,068,436 | 15.2% | |||
| Available seat miles (000) | 34,498,180 | 31,254,001 | 10.4% | |||
| Load factor | 70.4% | 67.4% | 3.0 pts. | |||
| Average length of haul | 638 | 599 | 6.5% | |||
| Trips flown | 558,641 | 535,538 | 4.3% | |||
Source: Southwest Airlines
Contact: Investor Relations of Southwest Airlines, 214-792-4415
Website: http://www.southwest.com/