Sir James

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/14376412.htm

SnowLuvr

What a load of $h...
Anyone who buys into the argument that if Southwest expands at Love then American will HAVE to shrink DFW to compete at Love is very short sighted. I find this very amusing. There are no Wright type restrictions at Midway in Chicago and yet American isn't crying about having to shrink thier operation at O'Hare in order to compete. They must think we are all really stupid to buy into this tall tail!

RedeyeAV8r

Look I don't work for AMR or SWA.......................

The problem AMR has is that they were forced to move operations from DAL to DFW when it opened............thus the Wright amendment was created not allowing Airlines to fly farther then the distance of the farthest Border in Texas (El Paso)..as I recall. That is why also the reason the City of Denver shut down Stapleton when the new DIA opened up.

The gate leases and Landing Fees at DFW were higher than they were at Love.............someone had to pay for all that concrete.
So all the big folks moved out to DFW, CO, AME, UAL DAL etc...........
At that time Southwest wasn't really a factor since they were basically a DAL to hobby airline.

Snap shot 20 years forward...........SWA is a Major Airline.and still making a profit..while all the other BIG boys are still losing money. Now SWA is petitioning to have the wright Ameendmant removed.........thus competeing directly with DFW..............is that good or bad?? I guess it depends on who you work for.............................AMR is po'd because they don''t want to pay higher landing fees at DFW and DAL is preferable for many Business travelers...thus SWA has in AMR's mind an unfair advantage.

It is similar to SLOT restricted airports........ORD, LGA, DCA, BOS. Back in the booming years of the 80's......the Legacy carriers paid big bucks for landing rights at these airports.......Eastern, PanAm went down.......USAir, CO, AMR, and Delta paid Big $$ to acquire slots, and realestate.........

USAir paid close to 25 million for some of CO's slots at LGA when CO went into BK in the early 90's.....................Then along comes a start up carrier............Midway, Private Jet, Value Jet.....and Even America West as they started expanding into the East coast. The Government gives these guys Free Landing slots at these airports.........So the BIG boys start complaining that this isn't fair.......we had to pay a couple million per slot and you give these new guys a slot or two for free...............The difference is that back then most of the Big Carriers were making a lot of money........now they aren't.................That is the problem..........either completely deregulate............or start re-regulating..........you can't have deregualtion but give out favors to the little guys and not reciprocate to the Big boys............although SWA isn't a "Little guy " anymore

JMT21

1964-CAB orders Dallas and Fort Worth to build one airport that will serve entire Dallas/Fort Worth area

While DFW was still on the drawing boards, an agreement was made with the airlines currently serving Love and Meacham, that they would move to DFW upon it's completion. At the time Southwest was in court having not been allowed to begin service and thus was not a party to the agreement. Before DFW opened, SWA filed suit to remain at Love claiming no legel basis existed to close the airport to commercial service and that it was not bound by an agreement it did not sign.

1973-US Supreme Court rules that as long as Love is open as an airport, no one could prevent SWA from operating at the field.
1974-DFW completed
1978-Airline Dereg
1979-SWA announces it will begin service to New Orleans.

SWA expansion really chaps the ass of DFW airport as well as the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth so they go to the CAB in an effort to stop SWA expansion out of Love. CAB does nothing, so they turn to local congressman Jim Wright. Wright added the 'Wright Amendment' on to International Air Transportation Competition Act of 1979.

It became illegal for Southwest to advertise or offer flights from Love Field to anywhere beyond the states bordering Texas (New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Lousiana). The new law didn’t initially have any affect on Southwest’s operations as they were all within the legal states. Things are still the same today although several more states (Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, and Kansas) have been added to the list.

Skygirl

Thanks for the history lesson guys. I never understood what the Wright Amendment and the whole Love/DFW battle was about.

corl737

A good litmus test about the credibility of a poster is this: there is absolutely no connection between the plans to build D/FW and the Wright Amendment. If anyone tries to connect the two their knowledge of North Texas aviation should immediately be suspect.

The Court ruling(s) declaring Southwest had the right to operate from Love Field exposed the flaws of the 1968 Regional Airport Concurrent Bond Ordinance. That Ordinance was made possible when all the airlines serving Love Field (in 1967) signed an agreement to move to DFW when it opened. The agreement proved to be legally binding to those who signed. (As JMT21 mentioned above, SWA was not in existence at the time of the agreement and it was not "legally permissible" for them to be forced to move from Love Field.)

The Wright Amendment was created in response to Southwest's planned interstate expansion following enactment of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. While American Airlines was serving DFW at the time of the Wright Amendment's passage, Braniff was actually DFW's dominant carrier. Thus claims that the Wright Amendment was passed to protect AA are only true to the extent that AA was one of the airlines serving DFW at the time.

Some of the sites I frequently reference:

The Handbook of Texas Online - Article on Southwest Airlines: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/...s/SS/eps1.html

City of Fort Worth's "Wright Site" http://web.archive.org/web/200304271...ht/wrindex.htm

Dallas Morning News' Wright Archives: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/wright/index.html

Site operated by a Tarrant County resident: http://www.fightwright.org

JMT21

Was that directed at anyone in particular or are you just throwing it out there?

corl737

The info you passed along was right on the money. I didn't specifically commend your posting because I wanted those who read it to actually READ it and see that you have the proper perspective. If I were your prof. I'd give you an "A" on the report!

I don't claim to be an expert though I've probably done more homework on the Love-Field-since-1917 subject than most.

av8r4aa

I say close Love Field and move EVERYBODY to DFW.
One big happy family. The only holdup here is SWA who
will not play with the other guys.
Hey SWA, Come on over our sandbox. It is big enough
for everyone. I like Crandalls comment "SWA snake oil"
That cracks me up.

320ToBearz

did crandall crack you up with those b scales he crammed down your throats?