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Southwest Airlines Fact Sheet

Updated: December 11, 2007

Leadership:

Herbert (Herb) D. Kelleher - Executive Chairman of the Board
Gary Kelly - Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Colleen Barrett - President

Headquarters:

P.O. Box 36611
2702 Love Field Drive
Dallas, TX 75235

About the Company:

Southwest Airlines was incorporated in Texas and commenced Customer Service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three Texas cities - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Today, Southwest operates more than 500 Boeing 737 aircraft between 64 cities. Southwest topped the monthly domestic originating passenger rankings for the first time in May 2003. Yearend results for 2006 marked Southwest’s 34th consecutive year of profitability. Southwest became a major airline in 1989 when it exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark. Southwest is the United States’ most successful low-fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier. Southwest operates more than 3,300 flights a day coast to coast, making it the largest U.S. carrier based on domestic departures.

Daily Departures:

More than 3,300 flights a day

Employees:

More than 33,000 total Employees throughout the Southwest system.

Stock:

Common stock is traded under the symbol "LUV" on the NYSE.

2006 Financial Statistics:

  • Net income: $499 million
  • Total passengers carried: 96.3 million
  • Total RPMs: 67.7 billion
  • Passenger load factor: 73.1 percent
  • Total operating revenue: $9.1 billion

Cities Served by Southwest:

Southwest flies to 64 cities in 32 states.

Albany Indianapolis Phoenix
Albuquerque Long Island Pittsburgh
Amarillo Jackson Portland
Austin Jacksonville Providence
Baltimore/Washington Kansas City Raleigh-Durham
Birmingham Las Vegas Reno
Boise Little Rock Sacramento
Buffalo Los Angeles (LAX) St. Louis
Burbank Louisville Salt Lake City
Chicago (Midway) Lubbock San Antonio
Cleveland Manchester San Diego
Columbus Midland/Odessa San Francisco
Corpus Christi Nashville San Jose
Dallas (Love Field) New Orleans Seattle/Tacoma
Denver Norfolk Spokane
Detroit (Metro) Oakland Tampa
El Paso Oklahoma City Tucson
Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Omaha Tulsa
Ft. Myers/Naples Ontario West Palm Beach
Harlingen/South Padre Island Orange County Washington, DC (Dulles)
Hartford/Springfield Orlando  
Houston (Hobby) Philadelphia  

Fleet:

Southwest currently operates 515 Boeing 737 jets (as of November 16, 2007).

Type Number Seats
737-300 194 137
737-500 25 122
737-700 296 137
  • The Company’s fleet has an average age of about 9 years.
  • The average aircraft trip length is 633 miles with an average duration of one hour and 48 minutes.
  • Southwest aircraft fly an average of seven flights per day, or 13 hours per day.
  • Southwest was the launch customer for the Boeing 737-700 in 1997. Southwest was also a launch customer for the Boeing 737-500 and -300 series aircraft.
  • Southwest has almost completed updating its traditional gold, red and orange paint scheme by adding canyon blue. All new aircraft will have the updated colors and interior. Existing aircraft are being retrofitted.
  • Performance-enhancing Blended Winglets have been added to our fleet of 737-700s, and all new 737-700 aircraft arrive from Boeing with Blended Winglets installed. Additionally, Southwest began installation of Blended Winglets on some of our 737-300 aircraft in early 2007.

Southwest Airlines' Top Ten Airports: (as of November 16, 2007)

Cities Daily
Departures 		Number
of Gates 		Nonstop Cities
Served 		Established
Las Vegas 241 21 53 1982
Chicago Midway 227 29 47 1985
Phoenix 200 24 42 1982
Baltimore/Washington 172 26 40 1993
Oakland 144 11 21 1989
Houston Hobby 146 16 29 1971
Dallas (Love Field) 137 14 15 1971
Los Angeles (LAX) 122 11 19 1982
Orlando 116 14 33 1996
San Diego 103 10 16 1982

Reservations Centers:

Southwest Airlines currently operates six reservations centers located in Albuquerque, Chicago, Houston, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and San Antonio.

Fun Facts:

  • Southwest received 284,827 resumes and hired 3,363 new Employees in 2006.
  • In 2006 Southwest served 61.5 million cans of soda, juices, and water; 10.9 million alcoholic beverages; 5 million bags of pretzels; 93.8 million bags of peanuts; 16 million snackpacks; and 35.4 million other snacks.
  • Southwest consumed 1.6 billion gallons of jet fuel in 2006.
  • In 2006 Southwest moved 265 million pounds of cargo and mail.
  • The shortest daily Southwest flight is between Ft. Myers (RSW) and Orlando (MCO) (133 miles). The longest daily Southwest flight is between Philadelphia (PHL) and Oakland (OAK) (2,510 miles).
  • Southwest has 1,133 married couples. In other words, 2,266 Southwest Employees have spouses who also work for the Company.

Southwest Airlines Distinctions:

  • Southwest’s average passenger airfare is $105.37 and the average passenger trip length is about 836 miles.
  • Southwest Airlines has consistently received the lowest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded of all Major U.S. carriers that have been reporting statistics to the Department of Transportation (DOT) since September 1987, which is when the DOT began tracking Customer Satisfaction statistics and publishing its Air Travel Consumer Report.
  • The airline adopted the first profit-sharing plan in the U.S. airline industry in 1973. Through this plan and others, Employees own at least eight percent of the Company stock.
  • The airline is about 87 percent unionized.
  • Southwest Airlines is a member of the FORTUNE 500.
  • The Ronald McDonald House program, cornerstone of the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, is the primary corporate charity of Southwest Airlines. Annually, the Company sponsors the Southwest Airlines LUV Classic golf tournaments whose proceeds benefit various Ronald McDonald Houses and have totaled close to $9 million over the past 20 years.

Southwest Airlines' Recognitions:

  • In July 2007, Southwest Airlines was included in the Top 100 Most Innovative Technology Organizations by InformationWeek Magazine.
  • G.I. Jobs recognized Southwest Airlines in the Top 50 Military Friendly Employers of 2006. Southwest was the only airline included on the list.
  • For the 11th year in a row, FORTUNE magazine recognized Southwest Airlines in its annual survey of corporate reputations. Among all industries in 2007, FORTUNE has listed Southwest Airlines as number five among America’s Top Ten most admired corporations.
  • Southwest Airlines was included in Hispanic Business Magazine’s Top 60 Diversity Elite for 2007.
  • Southwest Airlines was named to the Forbes Platinum List in the category of Transportation in 2007.
  • In October 2007, Southwest Airlines was named number two in Leadership Development for a large company by Leadership Excellence Magazine.
  • The American Brand Excellence Awards recognized leading national brands that best served the needs of small- and mid-sized businesses. Southwest Airlines was given the award in the Travel category in May of 2007.
  • Southwest Airlines received the Dallas/Fort Worth Network of Hispanic Communicators Corporate Award at their Scholarship Awards Brunch in April of 2007.
  • In April 2007, The Port of Portland presented Southwest Airlines with the Environmental Excellence Award in recognition of an exemplary effort in the category of Environmental Innovation.
  • Keynote Systems ranked southwest.com number one in the Design and Organization category. The annual survey measures the online performance of 15 major airlines. In October 2006, southwest.com underwent a major design overhaul. The improved southwest.com design is founded on Customer feedback and utilization.
  • Southwest Airlines carried more domestic Customers than any other U.S. airline in January 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
  • Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Rewards program was honored in InsideFlyer magazine’s 2007 annual Freddie Awards for Best Award Redemption.
  • Southwest Airlines was named to Business Week’s first ever list of “Customer Service Champs.” The Business Week list, which appeared in the March 5, 2007 issue, ranks the best providers of Customer Service, and digs into the techniques, strategies, and tools they use to deliver great service.
  • Since 2000, HISPANIC magazine has listed Southwest Airlines as Corporate 100 for Leadership in providing opportunities for Hispanics and for supporting recruitment, scholarships, and minority vendor programs.
  • The Express Delivery & Logistics Association (XLA) honored Southwest Airlines as the “2007 Airline of the Year.” This is the third consectutive year that Southwest Airlines Cargo has received this honor.
  • FORTUNE has ranked Southwest Airlines in the top five of the “Best Companies to Work For” in America. Southwest ranked first in 1997 and 1998, second in 1999, and fourth in 2000. Southwest has chosen not to participate since 2000.
  • Southwest Airlines was voted as Best Low-Cost Carrier by the readers of Executive Travel Magazine in the 2006 Executive Travel Leading Edge Awards.
  • Travel and Leisure Magazine ranked Southwest Airlines 4th for Top Domestic Carriers in 2007.
  • BusinessWeek ranked Southwest Airlines as one of the top 50 Best Places to Launch a Career.

southwest.com

  • In the third quarter of 2007 online bookings reached 74% via southwest.com, compared to approximately 70% in 2006.
  • More than 6.6 million people subscribe to Southwest’s weekly Click ‘N Save e-mails.
  • As of June 2007, approximately 69 percent of Southwest Customers are checking in online or at a kiosk.
  • In June 2004, Southwest celebrated the launch of its Spanish booking engine, southwest.com/vamonos, where Customers can make flight reservations and find helpful information, including Southwest’s policies, travel tips, airport information, and route map entirely in Spanish. Southwest is among the first major airlines to offer such a service.
  • SWABIZ, Southwest’s free online booking tool that allows business travelers to plan, purchase, and track business travel, saw enrollments increase by 23 percent in 2006.
  • 66 percent of Fortune 500 Companies are enrolled in SWABIZ as of 2006.
  • Southwest was the first airline to establish a home page on the Internet. Initially, five Employees comprised Southwest’s web site development team, and the site took about nine months to create.
  • southwest.com is the number one airline website for online revenue according to PhoCusWright. Nielsen/Netratings also reports that southwest.com is the largest airline site in terms of unique visitors.
  • The “Southwest Shortcut” feature on southwest.com is the first online tool that helps Customers find the lowest fare based on availability over an entire month.
  • DING!, a downloadable desktop application, available for both PC and MAC users, notifies Customers of exclusive hot offers, was introduced in February 2005. Southwest was the first airline to implement this type of tool.
  • In addition to flights, Customers are also able to make car, hotel, cruise, and complete vacation package reservations on southwest.com.