Southwest Airlines Reports April Traffic

DALLAS, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.3 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in April 2008, a 5.7 percent increase from the 5.9 billion RPMs flown in April 2007. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 5.3 percent to 8.6 billion from the April 2007 level of 8.2 billion. The load factor for the month was 72.6 percent, compared to 72.3 percent for the same period last year.

For the four months ended April 30, 2008, Southwest flew 23.9 billion RPMs, compared to the 22.0 billion RPMs recorded for the same period of 2007, an increase of 8.3 percent. Available seat miles increased 6.1 percent to 33.8 billion from the 2007 level of 31.9 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 70.5 percent, compared to 69.1 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=INVRINVAPTR000000080505.

                            SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
                  PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS

                                                          APRIL

                                             2008          2007       CHANGE

    Revenue passengers carried            7,663,814     7,378,668      3.9 %

    Enplaned passengers                   8,794,398     8,434,977      4.3 %

    Revenue passenger miles (000)         6,261,385     5,921,988      5.7 %

    Available seat miles (000)            8,625,382     8,189,481      5.3 %

    Load factor                               72.6%         72.3%   0.3 pts.

    Average length of haul                      817           803      1.7 %

    Trips flown                             100,307        95,668      4.8 %



                                                      YEAR-TO-DATE

                                             2008          2007       CHANGE

    Revenue passengers carried           29,169,236    27,339,601      6.7 %

    Enplaned passengers                  33,503,013    31,338,050      6.9 %

    Revenue passenger miles (000)        23,853,543    22,031,059      8.3 %

    Available seat miles (000)           33,818,819    31,867,856      6.1 %

    Load factor                               70.5%         69.1%   1.4 pts.

    Average length of haul                      818           806      1.5 %

    Trips flown                             395,097       372,568      6.0 %