Southwest Airlines Reports December Traffic Up 11.3% YoY

Southwest Airlines Co. LUV announced today that the Company flew 6.6 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in December 2010, an 11.3 percent increase from the 6.0 billion RPMs flown in December 2009. Available seat miles increased 5.6 percent to 8.3 billion from the December 2009 level of 7.8 billion. The load factor for the month was 80.4 percent, compared to 76.2 percent for the same period last year. For December 2010, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have increased approximately five percent as compared to December 2009.