OREANDA-NEWS. Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced that the Company flew 10.2 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in March 2015, a 6.7 percent increase from the 9.6 billion RPMs flown in March 2014.  Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 4.4 percent to 12.1 billion from the March 2014 level of 11.6 billion.  The March 2015 load factor was 84.5 percent, compared with 82.7 percent in March 2014.  For March 2015, passenger revenue per ASM (PRASM) is estimated to have increased approximately 1.0 percent, compared with March 2014.

For the first quarter of 2015, the Company flew 25.9 billion RPMs, compared with 24.2 billion RPMs flown for the same period in 2014, an increase of 7.1 percent.  First quarter 2015 ASMs increased 6.0 percent to 32.3 billion from first quarter 2014 ASMs of 30.5 billion. The first quarter 2015 load factor was 80.1 percent, compared with 79.3 percent for the same period in 2014.