Southwest Airlines (LUV) May Traffic Up, Load Factor Down

Southwest Airlines Co. LUVreported traffic results for May. Traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles or RPMs) rose 4.2% to around 11.71 billion while capacity or available seat miles (ASMs) expanded 5.2% to 13.84 billion.

Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) contracted 80 basis points (bps) to 84.

6% in the month as traffic growth was exceeded by capacity expansion. Additionally, passenger count grew 5.3% to 14.43 billion.

In the first five months of 2018, Southwest Airlines witnessed a 3% rise in RPMs to 53.35 billion. Also, ASMs inched up 2.5% to 64.78 billion. As a result, the load factor increased 50 bps to 82.4%. Moreover, passenger count climbed 4.8% to 65.76 billion on a year-to-date basis.