Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the "Company") today reported its March and first quarter 2018 preliminary traffic statistics.

The Company flew 11.7 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in March 2018, an increase of 3.7 percent from the 11.3 billion RPMs flown in March 2017. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 2.4 percent to 13.8 billion in March 2018, compared with March 2017 ASMs of 13.4 billion. The March 2018 load factor of 85.1 percent was a March record, compared with 84.1 percent in March 2017.