Washington — Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) reported that its second quarter net income was 348 million dollars or 57 cents per share, compared to a loss of 915 million dollars or 1.63 dollars per share last year.

This was driven by a 724-million-dollar offset of salaries, wages, and benefits expenses related to the receipt of Payroll Support Program (PSP) proceeds under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Excluding special items, second quarter net loss was 206 million dollars or 35 cents per share compared to a loss of 1.50 billion dollars or 2.67 dollars per share in the previous year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of 32 cents per share for the second-quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Quarterly operating revenues increased 297.6 per cent, year-over-year, to 4.01 billion dollars. Analysts expected revenues of 3.88 billion dollars for the quarter.

Second quarter 2021 operating revenue per available seat mile was 11.99 cents, a decrease of 18.9 per cent, compared with second quarter 2019, primarily driven by a passenger revenue yield decrease of 18.9 per cent and a load factor decrease of 3.5 points.

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