Southwest Airlines says that it expects to experience stable unit revenue trends during fourth quarter 2018. Based on current bookings and yield trends, the company continues to expect its fourth quarter 2018 operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM, or unit revenues) to increase in the one to two percent range, year-over-year.
Southwest continues to expect $80 million to $90 million of year-over-year improvement in fourth quarter 2018 pre-tax results associated with its new reservation system capabilities, which is in line with its annual 2018 pre-tax goal of $200 million.
Based on current cost trends, Southwest continues to expect its fourth quarter 2018 operating costs per available seat mile (CASM), excluding fuel and oil expense and profitsharing expense, to be flat to up one percent, year-over-year.
The airline expects its fourth quarter 2018 fuel costs to be in the range of $2.25 to $2.30 per gallon, including $.07 per gallon in premium expense and an estimated $.07 per gallon in favorable cash settlements from fuel derivative contracts.
Southwest says that it continues to expect its fourth quarter 2018 year-over-year available seat mile growth to be in the 6 to 6.5 percent range.
During November 2018, Southwest flew 11.3 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs), an increase of 4.9% from the 10.8 billion RPMs flown in November 2017. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 6.5% to 13.4 billion in November 2018, compared with November 2017 ASMs of 12.6 billion. The November 2018 load factor was 84.5%, compared with 85.8% in November 2017.