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Q. What would you do if the Wright restrictions were lifted today?
A. I think we would begin selling all these points beyond the Wright Amendment, with no additional flights. So we have 117 daily departures today at Love Field. And now you would see Baltimore lighting up on southwest.com, as well as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, L.A., Florida. And then we'd be able to flow aircraft to those locations so you could stay on the same aircraft.
For example, Birmingham, Ala., was added in 1997 as legally accessible under the Wright Amendment via the Shelby Amendment. And to this day there are still not nonstop flights and not much service between Dallas Love Field and Birmingham, because there aren't enough passengers to justify the flights. The problem is we have no way to flow passengers through Birmingham and beyond. But if you could have a passenger who would fly Dallas to Birmingham and then have that airplane flow on to Tampa, then we could logically support more service.
The opportunities are numerous. And it would actually help most of the cities in Texas. Another example, we opened Pittsburgh in May but San Antonio and Houston have no published service to that market, because so many of their flights flow through Love Field. So that's why you see and hear so many editorials around the state supportive of repealing the Wright Amendment, because it would be good for all those communities as well.
We could add roughly 20 departures a day with the 14 gates we have. Then we'd get busy with a plan to refurbish the other seven gates available.
Q. And what's the key in Congress? Whoever gets the most powerful people on their side?
A. Well, it takes an act of Congress. I know we have the principle on our side. The vast majority of people that get polled, or that you engage in this conversation, agree. We've got virtually every major city editorial board agreeing with that. Most large cities have multiple airports. As an airport user of services, I can tell you that competition is always good. To have an asset that is built, and then, as some have suggested we should close Love Field, well that's just the craziest thing I've ever heard. Most cities would love to have that additional air capacity.
Q. What's the revenue potential for Southwest Airlines if the Wright Amendment is repealed?
A. I don't really know. It's definitely an opportunity for us. It just depends on how fast we grow and how successful we are in stimulating the market, and how much of that we're able to capture. It will be a competitive situation. And that's all good for the consumer. It is not unlike any other new market that we go into. So we're not afraid of the competition.
It's going to be something north of $100 million a year. We do not have a study which adds up to a number, which shows exactly what cities we're going to serve and with how many frequencies. We have steadfastly refused to give a projection, because we really don't know.
Love Field certainly stacks up as a very interesting opportunity. But American has a lot of capacity. That is the issue. I don't know how much or how fast we'll be able to grow, because American does have a very, very significant presence in Dallas-Fort Worth, and they should be proud of that. It's just how do we compete successfully, maintain our profitability, overcome ever-increasing energy prices, and try to do good things for our employees, shareholders and customers.
Q. How long will you fight for repeal?
A. We're not going to let up. Twenty-six years is long enough. And people change their minds. So we'll just keep after it. And there's plenty of support out there for this.