Southwest Airlines Co. announced today that the Company flew 3.1 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in October 1999, a 16.8 percent increase from the 2.7 billion RPMs flown in October 1998. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 11.5 percent to 4.6 billion from the October 1998 level of 4.2 billion. The load factor for the month was 67.6 percent, up 3.0 points from 1998.

For the ten months ended October 31, 1999, Southwest flew 30.3 billion RPMs, compared with the 26.3 billion RPMs recorded for the same period of 1998, an increase of 15.2 percent. Available seat miles increased 10.6 percent to 43.6 billion from the 1998 level of 39.4 billion. The year-to-date load factor was 69.4 percent, up 2.8 points from the same period last year.

This press release, as well as past releases, can be accessed on the Southwest Airlines internet site at: http: // www.southwest.com.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC STATISTICS
OCTOBER 1999

	OCTOBER
	1999	1998	CHANGE
Revenue passengers carried	5,050,022	4,526,381	11.6 %
Revenue passenger miles (000)	3,134,106	2,683,813	16.8 %
Available seat miles (000)	4,635,136	4,156,331	11.5 %
Load factor	67.6%	64.6%	3.0 pts.
Average length of haul	621	593	4.7 %
Trips flown	73,248	69,503	5.4 %
	YEAR-TO-DATE
	1999	1998	CHANGE
Revenue passengers carried	47,732,425	43,822,177	8.9 %
Revenue passenger miles (000)	30,262,929	26,271,312	15.2 %
Available seat miles (000)	43,595,937	39,419,331	10.6 %
Load factor	69.4%	66.6%	2.8 pts.
Average length of haul	634	599	5.8 %
Trips flown	702,584	672,081	4.5 %

CONTACT: Investor Relations (214) 792-4415