Southwest Airlines announce traffic highlights in Dec-2009

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.0 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in December 2009, a 3.0 percent increase from the 5.8 billion RPMs flown in December 2008. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 5.8 percent to 7.8 billion from the

December 2008 level of 8.3 billion. The load factor for the month was 76.2 percent, compared to 69.7 percent for the same period last year. For December 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased in the seven percent range as compared to December 2008.