On Sunday, Southwest Airlines will celebrate ten successful years serving the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood area. Customers traveling on Sunday will experience a festive birthday celebration complete with cupcakes, balloon artists, prizes, and decorations.

“We are excited to celebrate a decade of providing our legendary Customer Service, frequent flights, and low fares to our Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Customers,” said Greg Wells, Southwest Airline's Senior Vice President of Ground Operations. “We are Florida's largest intrastate carrier, and we couldn't do that without our Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood area Customers.”

Southwest Airlines began service to the Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport on Jan. 22, 1996, with five daily nonstop departures to Tampa Bay. Today, Southwest operates 40 daily nonstop departures to ten cities, with direct or connecting service to 40 additional cities. The airline has grown to capture nearly 15.3 percent market share (as of second quarter 2005), which makes it the number two airline in the market.

Other noteworthy Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood statistics:

• In the second quarter of 2005 (the latest information from the DOT), Southwest transported more than 700,000 Customers to or from the Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport.
• Over the last year, Southwest handled more than 2.5 million Customers in the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood area.
• Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood is one of Southwest's Top 20 markets.
• In fourth quarter 1996, Southwest carried 290,700 passengers at Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. As of second quarter 2005, Southwest carried 700,000 passengers, an increase of 140 percent.
• In fourth quarter 1995, the quarter before Southwest entered the market, 1.97 million passengers were carried at Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. In fourth quarter 2004, 4.6 million passengers were carried, an increase of 131 percent.

“Our growth in Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood has been phenomenal, and our hardworking local Employees deserve the credit,” Wells said. “They work hard every day for our Florida Customers, and they are going to celebrate this weekend.”

Southwest Airlines thanks the people and travelers of Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood for a wonderful ten years and looks forward to many more years of growth and success in the city.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the nation's largest airline in terms of domestic Customers boarded, currently serves 62 cities in 32 states. Southwest currently serves six cities in Florida: Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Ft. Myers/Naples, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood. Based in Dallas, Southwest Airlines currently operates more than 3,000 flights a day. The carrier began service to Denver, its newest destination, on Jan. 3, 2006.

To take advantage of Southwest Airlines' super low fares, Customers who book their travel via the Internet can subscribe to Southwest Airline's Click ‘n Save email updates as well as Southwest Airlines' newest technological innovation–DING!

DING! delivers Southwest Airlines' hottest deals directly to Customers' desktops allowing Customers to get a jump on the latest southwest.com sales! For more information, visit http://www.southwest.com/ding/.

http://www.southwest.com

Media Please CONTACT:
Public Relations at 214/792-4847