Southwest Airlines carrying more connecting traffic compared to past: CEO

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly stated the carrier is carrying more connecting traffic compared to its past, although its focus remains on point-to-point nonstop services (Seeking Alpha, 25-Jan-2018). Mr Kelly said he hopes to complement point-to-point with connecting traffic due to the subsequent rise in load factors, however "it's not because they have converted us to a hub and spoke operation where we're more dominated by connecting traffic". Mr Kelly said the higher load factors were also "accomplished by optimising the flight schedule better and in some cases, spinning out some of the frequencies in our higher frequency markets, but not at the expense of the nonstop traffic".