OREANDA-NEWS. Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the "Company") today reported its October and year-to-date preliminary traffic statistics. The Company flew 10.0 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in October 2015, a 10.8 percent increase from the 9.0 billion RPMs flown in October 2014. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 7.2 percent to 11.6 billion in October 2015, compared with the October 2014 level of 10.8 billion. The October 2015 load factor was a record for the month of October at 85.9 percent, compared with 83.1 percent in October 2014. Based on these results and current trends, the Company continues to estimate its fourth quarter 2015 operating revenue per ASM (RASM) will increase approximately 1.0 percent, compared with fourth quarter 2014.

For the first ten months of 2015, the Company flew 97.7 billion RPMs, compared with 90.3 billion RPMs flown for the same period in 2014, an increase of 8.3 percent. Year-to-date 2015 ASMs increased 6.9 percent to a level of 116.7 billion, compared with 109.2 billion for the same period in 2014. The year-to-date load factor was 83.7 percent, compared with 82.7 percent for the same period in 2014.