Southwest Airlines Reports August 2017 Traffic

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the "Company") today reported its August and year-to-date preliminary traffic statistics.

The Company flew 11.3 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in August 2017, an increase of 5.3 percent from the 10.7 billion RPMs flown in August 2016. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 4.9 percent to 13.3 billion in August 2017, compared with August 2016 ASMs of 12.7 billion. The August 2017 load factor was 84.9 percent, compared with 84.6 percent in August 2016. Based on these results, the estimated impact from Hurricane Harvey, and the current industry revenue environment driving weakness in revenue passenger yields, the Company expects its third quarter 2017 operating revenue per ASM (RASM) to be in the range of down one percent to slightly up, year-over-year.