Southwest Flew More Passengers In June

Southwest Airlines flew 11.6 million revenue passengers during June, up from the 11.1 million it reported in the same month last year, a 4.6 percent increase.

For the second quarter to end June, the airline carried 5.1 percent more revenue passengers than 2Q16, at a shade under 34 million. For the first half, 63.5 million flew on Southwest flights, an increase of 4.2 percent.

RPM traffic for June, rose 3.7 percent, on an ASM capacity increase of 3.8 percent. Resulting load factor was 87.4 percent, no change from the prior year period.

Passenger traffic for Q2 was up 5.1 percent, as was ASM capacity. Again, no change in load factor for the quarter. Southwest increased capacity by 4.6 percent in 1H17, but RPM traffic rose by 4.3 percent, leading to a 0.3 percentage point drop in load factor to 82.9 percent.

The Dallas-based low cost carrier said that, based on these results, it continues to estimate second quarter 2017 operating revenue per ASM (RASM) will increase in the one to two percent range, compared to the second quarter of 2016.