Southwest Airlines today released the following statement in response to the announcement by King County Executive Ron Sims that the Southwest Airlines proposal to serve Boeing Field has been rejected.

"Southwest Airlines has remained unwavering in its commitment to serve the people of the Puget Sound Region. Our proposal to develop service at Boeing Field was no exception. We believe in preserving and expanding low fares, and our proposal was an effort to do just that," said Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly. "We are a Company that honors its commitments and its word, and we continued to advance our proposal for Boeing Field as recently as last night when a leadership team from our Flight Operations Department spoke to the King County International Airport Roundtable to address noise issues, as we had promised. We thank the Roundtable and the other members of this community who have written, called, and offered support for our mission of keeping low fares in this region."

"We are disappointed that our proposal was not given the comprehensive examination it deserved, but that does not change our commitment to our Seattle Employees and our Customers," Kelly said. "We will explore every option to expand and preserve our low fare service in the region. From the beginning we said that we had neither the power nor the desire to impose this project on the community. We accept and respect the outcome."

For additional commentary on this matter, Gary Kelly, Southwest Chief Executive Officer and Ron Ricks, Southwest Senior Vice President Law, Airports, and Public Affairs will hold a teleconference at 3:30 PM PST, 5:30 PM CST today.

Number: 1-800-500-0177

Confirmation Code: 4997019

SOURCE Southwest Airlines
10/11/2005

CONTACT: Public Relations of Southwest Airlines, 1-214-792-4847, or www.southwest.com

1952 10/11/2005 16:54 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com