Southwest Reports Increased May Passenger Numbers

Southwest Airlines boosted passenger traffic in May, with an increase of just over 3 percent.

The Dallas-based low cost carrier flew 11.3 million revenue passengers in May, a 3.6 percent increase on the previous year period’s 10.9 million.

Traffic in revenue passenger miles (RPM) was up 3.4 percent for the month, and with available seat miles (ASM) capacity rising 4.0 percent, load factor fell 0.4 percentage points to 85.4 percent.

Year to date numbers for the period to end May showed a 4.2 percent lift in revenue passengers carried to 51.9 million. ASM capacity rose 4.8 percent in the five months, with RPM traffic lagging slightly with an increase of 4.4 percent. Load factor was 81.9 percent, a drop of 0.3 percentage points on the 2016 period.

Southwest said that “based on these results and current trends, the Company continues to expect its second quarter 2017 operating revenue per ASM (RASM) to increase in the one to two percent range, as compared with second quarter 2016.”