Southwest Airlines Reports Robust March Traffic Statistics

Southwest Airlines Company LUVreported impressive traffic results for March. Traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles or RPMs) rose 3.7% to around 11.72 billion while capacity or available seat miles (ASMs) expanded 2.4% to 13.76 billion.

Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) improved 100 basis points (bps) to 85.

1% in the month as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion. Additionally, passenger count grew 5.3% to 14.32 billion.

In the first three months of 2018, Southwest Airlines witnessed a 3.7% rise in RPMs to 30.44 billion. Also, ASMs inched up 1.8% to 37.37 billion. As a result, the load factor increased 160 bps to 81.5%. Moreover, passenger count increased 5.5% to 37.54 billion on a year-to-date basis.