Southwest joins airlines in ticket hikes

DALLAS, March 7 (UPI) -- Southwest Airlines says it has joined other U.S. airlines in hiking ticket prices to compensate for more expensive fuel.

"On Friday, Southwest matched a fare increase of $5 one-way as a result of rising fuel costs," Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Dillon told United Press International in an e-mail Monday. "As an industry, we are all facing the cost pressures surrounding fuel prices.

"Southwest does not plan to add incremental fees to offset the fuel costs. We have not imposed fuel surcharges, and we do not have any current plans to cut capacity."

Word of the ticket price increase came as the Dallas airline announced Monday it was significantly busier in February than it was in the year-ago period.

Southwest said the airline flew 5.6 billion revenue passenger miles last month, a 13 percent increase from the 5 billion miles flown in February 2010. The air carrier also said its load factor for the month was 76.9 percent, compared with 73.9 percent in the year-ago period.

Southwest said its passenger revenue per available seat mile also was up 8 percent to 9 percent.

The latest numbers continue the upward trend from January.