Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) today releases its fourth annual award-winning integrated report to highlight how the carrier is working to become the world's Most Loved, Most Flown, and Most Profitable Airline.  The 2012 Southwest Airlines One Report uses a triple bottom line approach that takes into account the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities it serves, and its commitment to efficiency and the Planet, which can be found exclusively online at southwestonereport.com or southwest.com/citizenship.  To read a blog post revealing a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the One Report that features Southwest Employees, visit the NUTS About Southwest blog.  To view and download photos from the One Report, visit swamedia.com. 

"Southwest remains steadfast to our purpose of connecting people to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel, which we're pleased to discuss in the One Report," said Gary Kelly , Southwest Airlines Chairman, President, and CEO.  "More than four decades after our founding, we're proud to be the domestic airline industry leader in Customer satisfaction, the nation's largest airline in terms of domestic Passengers carried, and the record-holder for profitability with an unprecedented string of 40 consecutive years."

Interesting 2012 statistics that can be found in the One Report include:

• PERFORMANCE:  Southwest Airlines achieved record revenues of $17.1 billion in 2012, nearly tripling the revenue over the last decade. As of yearend, Southwest remained the only investment-grade rated U.S. airline with strong liquidity, modest debt, and a steadfast focus on enhancing Shareholder value through capital efficiency.
• PEOPLE:  Southwest Airlines Employees volunteered more than 118,000 hours, which is enough time to fly betweenDallas Love Field and Houston Hobby—one of Southwest's first routes in 1971—168,571 times.
• PLANET: Southwest Airlines diverted nearly 2,900 tons of material—equal to the weight of more than 69 Boeing 737-700s—from landfills and into recycling facilities with our co-mingled recycling program.  This is a seven percent increase over 2011 quantities, exceeding the goal of a 2.5 percent improvement.

It is important to Southwest to be transparent to Shareholders, so the award-winning One Report adheres to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and features parallel CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) reporting that covers effective management of environmental risks, focusing on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies. 

The 2012 One Report achieved a B+ level under GRI guidelines.  Southwest is a leader in its industry and among others in the area of corporate reporting.  Southwest is one of only a handful of U.S. companies publishing an integrated report, and Harvard Business School wrote its first case study in 2010 on integrated reporting about the carrier's efforts.