Southwest Air 2nd-qtr profit tops estimates on record revenues

Southwest Airlines Co posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as it boarded more passengers and garnered higher air fares.

Net income totaled $465 million, or 67 cents a share, in the second quarter, more than double the year-earlier profit of $224 million or 31 cents a share.

Adjusted for items such as fuel contracts and merger integration costs, profit was 70 cents a share, compared with 61 cents that analysts expected, on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Quarterly revenue rose 8 percent to $5 billion, which Southwest called a quarterly high. The average passenger fare rose nearly 8 percent to $163.