DALLAS, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today that the Company flew 6.7 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in August 2009, a 1.0 percent increase from the 6.6 billion RPMs flown in August 2008. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 6.1 percent to 8.3 billion from the August 2008 level of 8.9 billion. The load factor for the month was 80.2 percent, compared to 74.6 percent for the same period last year. For August 2009, passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have decreased in the five to six percent range as compared to August 2008. For the eight months ended August 31, 2009, Southwest flew 50.5 billion RPMs, compared to the 50.9 billion RPMs recorded for the same period of 2008, a decrease of 0.8 percent. Available seat miles decreased 3.8 percent to 66.8 billion from the 2008 level of 69.4 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 75.6 percent, compared to 73.3 percent for the same period last year. This news release, as well as past news releases on Southwest, are available online at http://www.southwest.com/?src=INVRINVAUTR000000090904. SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. PRELIMINARY COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS AUGUST ------ 2009 2008 CHANGE ---- ---- ------ Revenue passengers carried 7,515,594 7,751,835 (3.0)% Enplaned passengers 8,890,924 8,970,247 (0.9)% Revenue passenger miles (000) 6,693,859 6,630,104 1.0% Available seat miles (000) 8,343,899 8,882,141 (6.1)% Load factor 80.2% 74.6% 5.6 pts. Average length of haul 891 855 4.2% Trips flown 95,405 101,433 (5.9)% YEAR-TO-DATE ------------ 2009 2008 CHANGE ---- ---- ------ Revenue passengers carried 58,028,919 61,317,033 (5.4)% Enplaned passengers 68,001,351 70,592,742 (3.7)% Revenue passenger miles (000) 50,509,694 50,919,072 (0.8)% Available seat miles (000) 66,772,132 69,439,029 (3.8)% Load factor 75.6% 73.3% 2.3 pts. Average length of haul 870 830 4.8% Trips flown 762,874 802,812 (5.0)% http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040715/DATH028-a http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010718/SWNULOOK http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010724/SWALOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Southwest Airlines CONTACT: Investor Relations of Southwest Airlines, +1-214-792-4415 Web Site: http://www.southwest.com/

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