http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2010/01/04/daily48.html
OK Will. Tell your parents to get their own account on FlightAware. They are making you look good… 
I just search the web looking for anything aviation related… And I came across this.
And I don’t think my parents have ever tried to make me look good… 
Full details available at southwest.com/about_swa/press/prindex.html (click on press releases).
I was going to post the figures here but they are hard to read here.
If you have a Google account you can set up alerts to notify you of stuff like this. As an example, I have an alert with key word “airlines” that sends me an email once a day with airline news.
Thanks dami!
Their load factor and yield still trail virtually all their competitors.
Southwest must be doing something right - they are making a profit.
The load factor is in the high 70’s. Six out of seven flights I flew on Southwest had load factors right at 100%. The seventh flight was about 60%.
Their vegas operation does well from a load perspective - after all, it’s vegas. If you discount a flight to vegas enough, you will fill it, guaranteed.
However, their loads out of MDW and BWI to places like BUF, CMH, CLE, SDF, ALB, RDU, tend to hover in the 50%-60% range. A lot of their west-coast routes at places like ABQ, GEG, PDX, also don’t reliably generate good loads (except to Vegas and PHX).
Southwest must be doing something right - they are making a profit.
If I was Southwest, I would not care about the competitors… I would be thanking God that I had a profit this year. JMHO. But there’s more to it than that…
I decided to do some number crunching on the data from bts.gov. The data below is based on what Southwest reported for the first nine months of 2009. The figures include both scheduled, charter, and extra section flights. I did not include cargo because Southwest doesn’t carry that much cargo.
Total flights: 852,567 flights
100% load factor: 191 flights (0.2% of all flights)
80% or higher load factor: 215,908 flights (25.3% of all flights)
According to the following, it actually appears that LAS has lower load factors than other scheduled stations. That’s logical considering the economy and people taking less vacations.
Departure load factors
ABQ 69.0%
ALB 78.4%
AMA 65.7%
ATL 77.4%
AUS 71.1%
AVL 55.5% charter only
AVP 74.1% charter only
BDL 76.7%
BHM 67.1%
BNA 73.2%
BOI 63.7%
BOS 88.5%
BPT 73.0% charter only
BTR 77.6% charter only
BUF 77.6%
BUR 61.7%
BWI 76.2%
CAK 77.4% charter only
CID 58.4% charter only
CLE 68.5%
CLT 95.6% charter only
CMH 70.4%
COS 96.6% charter only
COU 81.8% charter only
CRP 54.7%
CRW 91.2% charter only
CSG 89.1% charter only
CYS 91.3% charter only
DAB 40.9% charter only
DAL 67.0%
DEN 72.8%
DTW 66.7%
ELP 66.2%
FLL 73.6%
GEG 68.0%
GJT 79.2% charter only
GLH 94.9% charter only
GRK 100.0% charter only
HDN 58.4% charter only
HOU 67.4%
HRL 57.7%
IAD 69.9%
IAH 89.1% discontinued scheduled destination - this may be only charters
IND 75.7%
ISP 73.9%
JAN 59.9%
JAX 67.7%
LAR 100.0% charter only
LAS 74.2%
LAX 65.0%
LBB 65.4%
LGA 80.2%
LIT 68.7%
LNK 97.1% charter only
LNS 77.4% charter only
LWS 82.5% charter only
MAF 62.2%
MCI 74.8%
MCO 76.3%
MDT 62.2% charter only
MDW 75.7%
MEM 81.3%
MGM 64.2% charter only
MHT 76.1%
MIA 97.8% charter only
MIE 95.6% charter only
MSP 73.9%
MSY 75.1%
OAK 65.8%
OKC 71.1%
OMA 74.2%
ONT 63.5%
ORF 72.5%
PAE 35.0% probably only ferry flights
PAM 73.7% charter only
PBI 77.2%
PDX 68.5%
PHL 69.6%
PHX 71.4%
PIA 99.3% charter only
PIB 100.0% charter only
PIT 73.8%
PUB 99.2% charter only
PVD 78.9%
RAP 91.2% charter only
RDG 77.8% charter only
RDU 69.8%
RNO 67.4%
ROC 97.1% charter only
RST 73.0% charter only
RSW 85.9%
SAN 71.3%
SAT 70.6%
SDF 69.1%
SEA 73.7%
SFO 67.0%
SHV 70.8% charter only
SJC 60.9%
SLC 65.8%
SMF 69.8%
SNA 67.0%
STL 71.1%
SWO 94.9% charter only
TCL 97.8% charter only
TPA 75.7%
TRI 96.4% charter only
TUL 63.0%
TUS 70.0%
Grand 70.9%
Destination load factors
ABQ 68.9%
ACT 60.6% charter only
ALB 78.1%
AMA 65.1%
ATL 76.9% charter only
AUS 70.8%
AVP 73.6% charter only
BDL 76.7%
BHM 67.1%
BNA 73.2%
BOI 62.7%
BOS 89.0%
BPT 73.0% charter only
BTR 78.6% charter only
BUF 77.2%
BUR 61.6%
BWI 76.2%
CID 69.8% charter only
CLE 68.3%
CLT 97.1% charter only
CMH 70.0%
COS 96.6%
COU 88.3% charter only
CRP 54.5%
CRW 91.2% charter only
CSG 100.0% charter only
CYS 91.3% charter only
DAB 40.9% charter only
DAL 67.3%
DEN 72.8%
DSM 73.0% charter only
DTW 66.8%
ELP 65.9%
EWR 62.0% charter only
FLL 72.0%
GEG 67.8%
GJT 79.2% charter only
GLH 100.0% charter only
GRK 99.3% charter only
GTR 56.2% charter only
HDN 58.4% charter only
HOU 67.5%
HRL 56.7%
IAD 70.2%
IAH 89.1% discontinued scheduled destination - this may be only charters
IND 75.5%
ISP 74.5%
JAN 60.0%
JAX 67.7%
LAF 86.1% charter only
LAN 55.5% charter only
LAR 100.0% charter only
LAS 74.0%
LAX 65.2%
LBB 64.8%
LGA 80.4%
LIT 68.8%
LNK 97.6% charter only
LNS 77.0% charter only
LWS 80.3% charter only
MAF 61.4%
MCI 74.8%
MCO 76.5%
MDT 67.6% charter only
MDW 76.1%
MEM 69.3%
MGM 64.2% charter only
MHK 59.9% charter only
MHT 76.2%
MIA 97.8% charter only
MLU 97.8% charter only
MSP 75.1%
MSY 74.8%
OAK 66.2%
OKC 70.8%
OMA 74.2%
ONT 63.2%
ORF 72.4%
PAE 59.1% probably only ferry flights
PAM 73.7% charter only
PBI 74.4%
PDX 69.4%
PHL 69.6%
PHX 71.6%
PIA 99.3% charter only
PIB 100.0% charter only
PIT 73.8%
PUB 93.4% charter only
PVD 79.2%
RAP 92.7% charter only
RDG 77.1% charter only
RDU 69.7%
RNO 66.9%
ROC 97.8% charter only
RST 73.0% charter only
RSW 81.3%
SAN 71.3%
SAT 70.5%
SCE 99.3% charter only
SDF 68.8%
SEA 75.2%
SFO 67.4%
SHV 70.8% charter only
SJC 61.5%
SLC 65.6%
SMF 70.0%
SNA 67.3%
STL 71.1%
SWO 97.1% charter only
SYR 72.3% charter only
TPA 74.9%
TRI 98.4% charter only
TTN 57.7% charter only
TUL 63.1%
TUS 69.8%
YNG 73.7% charter only
Grand 70.9%
Thanks dami… You use your head for something other than a hat rack. I wear a cap all the time, so that explains how I use my head…
Noticed the load factors in KDEN were 72.8% in and out. Didn’t someone here say they were underperforming on their Denver routes?
Good work as usual David, you’re a pitbull. Bravo!
Interesting point. They have (had) good competition from Frontier in DEN. It will be interesting to see how these numbers change with the Republic buyout of Frontier.