Southwest Airlines Reports March Traffic

DALLAS, April 2, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. NYSE: LUV announced today that the Company flew 6.7 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in March 2008, a 9.8 percent increase from the 6.1 billion RPMs flown in March 2007. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 5.3 percent to 8.7 billion from the March 2007 level of 8.3 billion. The load factor for the month was 76.5 percent, compared to 73.3 percent for the same period last year.

For first quarter 2008, Southwest flew 17.6 billion RPMs, compared to the 16.1 billion RPMs recorded for the same period in 2007, an increase of 9.2 percent. Available seat miles increased 6.4 percent to 25.2 billion from the 2007 level of 23.7 billion. The first quarter 2008 load factor was 69.8 percent, compared to 68.0 percent for the same period last year.

This release, as well as past news releases on Southwest, are available online at http://www.southwest.com/?src=IR_040208.

                            SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
                  PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS

                                                  MARCH
                                      2008         2007      CHANGE

    Revenue passengers carried      8,094,136    7,525,014    7.6 %
    Enplaned passengers             9,309,655    8,631,060    7.9 %
    Revenue passenger miles (000)   6,679,424    6,084,426    9.8 %
    Available seat miles (000)      8,736,967    8,299,810    5.3 %
    Load factor                          76.5%        73.3%   3.2 pts.
    Average length of haul                825          809    2.0 %
    Trips flown                       101,543       97,123    4.6 %



                                               YEAR-TO-DATE
                                      2008         2007      CHANGE

    Revenue passengers carried     21,501,725   19,960,933    7.7 %
    Enplaned passengers            24,708,612   22,903,073    7.9 %
    Revenue passenger miles (000)  17,592,158   16,109,071    9.2 %
    Available seat miles (000)     25,193,437   23,678,376    6.4 %
    Load factor                          69.8%        68.0%   1.8 pts.
    Average length of haul                818          807    1.4 %
    Trips flown                       294,790      276,900    6.5 %