Southwest Airlines May Load Factor Grows To 85.8%

Southwest Airlines Co. LUV revealed that its May load factor increased to 85.8 percent from 84.4 percent in the preceding year month. Southwest Airlines said that it flew 10.9 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in May 2016 representing an increase of 6.4 percent from the 10.2 billion RPMs flown in May 2015. Similarly, its Available seat miles (ASMs) grew 4.6 percent to 12.6 billion in May from 12.1 billion in the year-ago month. The company stated that based on these results and current trends, it continues to expect a modest increase in its second quarter 2016 operating revenue per ASM (RASM) as compared with second quarter 2015. For the year-to-date period, the low-cost air carrier reported load factor of 82.2 percent, up from 81.6 percent. Shares of the company traded 3.11 percent higher on Tuesday.