LEASES

On July 9, 2012, the Company signed an agreement with Delta Air Lines, Inc. and Boeing Capital Corp. to lease or sublease all 88 of AirTran's Boeing 717-200 aircraft (“B717s”) to Delta. The first converted B717 was delivered to Delta during late September 2013, and as of March 31, 2014, the Company had delivered a total of 24 B717s to Delta. Over the expected term of the transition period for all B717s, the Company expects to average approximately three B717 conversions per month. Following the purchase of two formerly leased B717 aircraft during first quarter 2014, a total of 76 of the B717s are on operating lease, ten are owned, and two are currently classified as capital leases.

The B717s add complexity to the Company's operations, as Southwest Airlines has historically operated an all-Boeing 737 fleet. From a fleet management perspective, the transition of approximately three B717s per month to Delta allows the Company to minimize the impact of this transaction on operations, as the B717 capacity lost is expected to be replaced through the capacity gained as a result of (i) the Company's modification of the retirement dates for a portion of its 737-300 and 737-500 aircraft and (ii) its receipt of new 737 deliveries from Boeing or its acquisition of used 737s.

The Company will lease and/or sublease all 88 of the B717s to Delta at agreed-upon lease rates. In addition, the Company will pay the majority of the costs to convert the aircraft to the Delta livery and perform certain maintenance checks prior to the delivery of each aircraft. The agreement to pay these conversion and maintenance costs is a “lease incentive” under applicable accounting guidance. The sublease terms for the 76 B717s currently on operating lease and the two B717s currently classified as capital leases coincide with the Company's remaining lease terms for these aircraft from the original lessor, which range from approximately two to nine years. The lease terms for the ten B717s that are owned by the Company are seven years, after which Delta will have the option to purchase the aircraft at the then-prevailing market value. The Company will account for the lease and sublease transactions with Delta as operating leases, except for the two aircraft classified by the Company as capital leases. The subleases of these two aircraft will be accounted for as direct financing leases. There are no contingent payments and no significant residual value conditions associated with the transaction.

The accounting for this transaction is based on the guidance provided for lease transactions. For the components of this transaction finalized in third quarter 2012 and with respect to which the lease inception has been deemed to occur, the Company recorded a charge of approximately $137 million during third quarter 2012. The charge represented the remaining estimated cost, at the scheduled date of delivery of each B717 to Delta (including the conversion, maintenance, and other contractual costs to be incurred), of the Company's lease of the 78 B717s that were originally accounted for as operating leases, net of the future sublease income from Delta and the remaining unfavorable aircraft lease liability established as of the acquisition date. The charges recorded by the Company for this transaction were included as a component of Acquisition and integration costs in the Company's unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income and were included as a component of Other, net in Cash flows from operating activities in the Company's unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, and the corresponding liability for this transaction is included as a component of Current liabilities and Other noncurrent liabilities in the Company's unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. A rollforward of the Company's B717 lease/sublease liability for 2014 and 2013 is shown below:



(in millions)	B717 lease/sublease liability
Balance at December 31, 2012	$	128
Lease/sublease accretion	6
Lease/sublease payments, net (a)	(12		)
Balance at December 31, 2013	$	122
Lease/sublease accretion	2
Lease/sublease payments, net (a)	(29		)
Balance at March 31, 2014	$	95

(a) Includes lease conversion cost payments

The Company may also incur other costs associated with this transaction, such as potential changes associated with the extension of the time between when the Company removes an aircraft from revenue service and the time it is delivered to Delta. The Company has anticipated a reasonable period of transition time for the conversion process, but for some aircraft this period of time will be longer than anticipated due to the Company's plans to halt all B717 service on or around the end of 2014. The Company will follow "cease-use" date accounting guidance for these instances and thus may incur additional charges at the time the aircraft are removed from service. Any additional charges are not expected to be material.