Virgin America: We have a deal for AA's Gates
 

Virgin America announced it would begin selling tickets for its planned flights at Dallas Love Field, touting fares as low as $79 each way on routes to Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington.
It's the latest development in a three-airline scramble to win two gates that American Airlines must give up at the airport as part of an agreement that cleared the way for it to merge with US Airways.
Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines also want to take control of the gates. Adding an additional layer of complexity to the fight for the Dallas gates, Delta currently is subleasing the gates that American must give up.
As for Virgin America's schedule announcement, the carrier indicated it has reached a deal to secure the Love Field gates.
"We have a signed gate-transfer agreement with American that has been approved by the (DOJ) Department of Justice," Virgin America spokeswoman Abby Lundardini says in an e-mail to Today in the Sky. "American was instructed by the DOJ to divest the gates to Virgin America as a low-fare, new-entrant airline -- to ensure there is some competition in this market."
The deal would still need to be OK'd by the city of Dallas, which owns the airport.
On that point, Lunardini says: "At present, Love Field is monopoly-controlled by one carrier -- with 80% control of the gates. We are confident the city will approve the agreement, as this is a win for Dallas consumers in terms of fares and service."
Southwest already controls 16 of the 20 gates at Love Field.
TODAY IN THE SKY: Virgin America eyes focus city at Dallas Love Field (March 2014)
If Virgin America is cleared for the flights at Dallas Love Field, it would end its existing service at Dallas/Fort Worth. Virgin America plans to fly from Dallas Love Field to five major business destinations: New York LaGuardia, Washington Reagan National (DCA), Chicago O'Hare, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
However, it was just Thursday night that key parties said they believed a decision on the Love Field gates to still be weeks away.
"The city of Dallas is aware of the interest among several carriers to operate out of two of the 20 gates at Dallas Love Field," the city of Dallas, which owns Love Field, said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. "As of today (Thursday), there has been no decision regarding any carriers operating at these gates."
Even the CEO of American indicated on Thursday that he was not aware of any decision -- or perhaps he was displaying a good poker face.
"We cannot," AA's Doug Parker is quoted as saying by the Morning News when asked if he could confirm a decision on the Love Field gates. "We can confirm that as part of our agreement with the Department of Justice, we agreed to divest those gates. But we have no other knowledge."
Speculation about the gates began building in the Dallas media on Thursday when Virgin America announced a Friday morning press conference to discuss the carrier's "future in Dallas." In a precursor to that press conference, a Virgin America Airbus A320 touched down at Love Field on Thursday as the press event loomed.


Virgin America: We have a deal for AA's Dallas Love gates

Glad they got these instead of WN.

Would've been completely pathetic had WN ended up with those gates.

The Plot Thickens
 

Dallas denies winner chosen in fight for Love Field gates

Dallas says it will hold a briefing Monday “to outline the operation of gates at Dallas Love Field,” though Virgin America has all but claimed it would get the two available gates.

By TERRY MAXON


As Virgin America Inc. prepares to hold a news conference Friday to discuss its Dallas plans, the city issued a statement late Thursday denying that any carrier had been picked to get two Love Field gates up for grabs.

“The city of Dallas is aware of the interest among several carriers to operate out of two of the 20 gates at Dallas Love Field,” the city said in a statement. “As of today, there has been no decision regarding any carriers operating at these gates.”

Virgin America, Southwest Airlines Co. and Delta Air Lines Inc. are all vying for the two gates being surrendered by American Airlines Inc. American was forced to divest the gates as part of an antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Virgin America, headquartered near San Francisco, has said it would launch 18 daily flights to five cities if it got the two gates. It would end its six daily flights to two cities out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The Friday session indicates that it thinks it has those gates.

The Dallas statement said its Transportation and Trinity River Project Committee will hold a briefing Monday “to outline the operation of gates at Dallas Love Field.”

“As we approach the end of the Wright amendment restrictions, as well as complete our $500 million Love Field Modernization Program, the city of Dallas is committed to providing the very best passenger experience and looks forward to serving both the traveling public and our airline partners,” the city said in its statement.

If indeed Virgin America is the winner, it’s news to executives at other airlines.

Asked Thursday if American could confirm that its two gates are going to Virgin America, chief executive Doug Parker said simply, “We cannot. We can confirm that as part of our agreement with the Department of Justice, we agreed to divest those gates. But we have no other knowledge.”

Asked the same question, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said that, “We are waiting patiently to see what the next step is in the process. As far as I am aware, we are still in the running for consideration.”

Delta on Thursday issued a statement repeating its call that Dallas take over control of the gates and make them “common use” gates that all carriers could share.

Parker indicated that the decision isn’t controlled so much by American as when American gave up takeoff and landing “slots” at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and New York LaGuardia Airport.

“The distinction is the slots were owned by the company. These gates are owned by the city of Dallas. We’re involved somewhat. We’ve agreed that we won’t use them, and the city is working with the airlines as much as we are,” he said.

Stephen Johnson, American’s executive vice president for corporate affairs, said that, “We know that there are discussions going on. ... But Southwest and Delta are still making the case that they should be entitled to this. It’ll be, I think, still a couple of weeks before we know how this will all settle.”

So Johnson was asked: Was Virgin America’s announcement premature?

“I’ll say I was surprised when I found out they had called a press conference,” Johnson said.

Dallas denies winner chosen in fight for Love Field gates | Dallas Morning News

Great... The government picking the winners and losers instead of an open and transparent auction.

Well, we know who Southwest has bought off this week.

Of course, REAL competition would hurt the darlings...... can't have THAT!

Yea, let's get some real competition going and allow Emirates to fly cabotage routes in the US. We wouldn't want the government to pick winners and losers.

Congrats to the VX group, I hope those new DAL gates translate into more expansion for you.

What an asinine statement

Just echoing the sentiments of your buddy shiz.

.

It's commercial air travel where three carriers now control an overwhelming majority of air travel. These three could easily crush any and all LCC pressure/money by putting up even more lobbying pressure/money. The government approved each and every single legacy major and made these carriers the stable three carriers they are today. It's just simply checks and balances to ensure the travelling public gets good competition from everyone, not just three legacy carriers.

The government is in control of a lot more than the gates in DAL. True competition would have open entry to all airports and all countries for any carrier. We as pilots really don't want this. The current situation is the best for our career since '78. The less competition and whipsaw the better.

No problem with that. Just keep the middle east state sponsored/state supported airlines out of it, and you have a deal. But your assertion of competition among "LCCs" is folly. You even said so yourself. We could crush them easily. Even the darling holding the monopoly at DAL would be in trouble if we were allowed in there...

Well, crush us into bankruptcy. Which would allow us to shed debt, return to Dallas and crush you back into bancruptcy. That in turn, would...well, you get my drift. Without the government rules, the only thing you would be crushing is beer cans. At least acknowledge the fact that the government laws are written to keep corporations alive when free market forces would have ended them.

I wonder how an airline with a penchant for thumbing it's nose at the DOJ rules (foreign ownership, reporting) wins anything at the DOJ.

I guess they need those gates for the service they're pulling out of PHL Oct. 6.

You answered your own question. Seems to be a matter of tradition, for VX.

On one side of the equation, a lot of nerve. On the other, ineptitude and apathy means the DOJ can't/won't enforce rules. All this does, is to take the abdication of responsibilities to its' logical conclusion.

??? VX has complied with all DOT restrictions regarding foreign ownership. It also reports what is required for a private company in terms of DOT requirements.

Not giving va these gates would have been better for them. They are going to go head to head with aa, swa and others for business travelers. Those are a different group than the usual bay area hipster va caters to.

If va can't make this work is over for them.

Not enough hipsters in PHL, I guess.

No, not enough planes for the new DAL flying. Reallocation of the fleet and Philly might come back as more planes come next year.

D-bag Hipsters don't use air travel, they just ride their stupid bicycles everywhere............

Don't you work for SWA? They are not a LCC.

Fox News?
Is that you trolling an internet forum?:cool:

You sound like that whiney chick, Rachel Maddow. :D

Do you know how many time a comment like that has been made in the last 6-7 years.:cool:
DAL is gonna be good for VA. The people of Dallas are really no different than anyone else. They will test the waters and will enjoy the feel.

City’s consultants say Southwest best choice
 

Aviation consultants hired by the city of Dallas have concluded that Southwest Airlines would be the city’s best choice to get two available gates at Dallas Love Field.

L.E.K. Consultants said the “city’s main objective” should be to maximize the number of passengers originating or ending their trips at Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, “as that would represent maximum utility for stakeholders.”

“Based on fleet plans and potential cannibalization at D/FW, Southwest would likely drive the most passenger traffic across both DAL [Love Field] & D/FW,” the consultants said in a report to the city.

The Dallas City Council’s Transportation and Trinity River Project Committee is scheduled to discuss the Love Field gates Monday afternoon.

American Airlines Inc. is required to divest the gates as part of a lawsuit settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which had sued American and US Airways Inc. in 2013 to block their planned merger.

The Justice Department has told American that it wants Virgin America to get the gates, which are among 20 gates in the new Love Field terminal nearing completion. Twelve of the gates are already in use.

The work is scheduled to be done before Oct. 13, the date that federal restrictions on Love Field flights expire. After that date, carriers can fly to any U.S. airport out of the Dallas airport, ending more than 34 years of limited service .

Southwest, which controls 16 of the new gates, is lobbying for the two American gates as well. Southwest has already named 15 cities that would get nonstop service when the federal limits expire, and promised service to 17 additional cities if it got the extra gates.

Delta Air Lines Inc. also is pushing to be able to fly out of Love Field, even though the Justice Department said March 10 that the Atlanta-based carrier was “not an appropriate divestiture candidate” for the Dallas gates.

Virgin America chairman Don Carty and chief executive David Cush on Friday said they had approval from the Justice Department and American to get the gates, and said they expected City Manager A.C. Gonzalez to approve the transfer of the gates. Virgin America started offering introductory $79 nonstop fares out of Love Field on Friday.

Carty called the lease transfer “a relatively routine matter. I don’t know that this city has ever interfered with the transfer of a lease between two private parties.”

“I think it’s pretty clear that these transfers get approved unless there’s an overwhelming reason not to approve them,” Carty said. “And we’ve seen transfers of Love Field gates to parties that are far less credible than a Virgin America.”

In briefing material to the council committee, the city staff indicated that Justice has made its wishes known.

“On April 16, 2014, the City received notice from the Department of Justice that American and Virgin America had reached an agreement and that agreement satisfies the Department of Justice,” the briefing paper stated.

L.E.K. said that the decision on the gates should be based on what’s best for the “primary stakeholders” — Dallas residents and the local business community. It said its analysis did not include American and the Justice Department.

“We have excluded ‘other stakeholder’ considerations from our analysis in order to remain objective; the DOJ’s needs do not necessarily overlap with the needs of the primary stakeholders,” the L.E.K. report said.

The consultants said Southwest likely would add the most destinations and “drive the most passenger traffic” at the two airports. While Virgin America plans 18 daily departures at Love Field, it will take its six departures away from D/FW Airport. The report also raised the question of whether Delta’s 22 flights at Love Field would cannibalize its D/FW operations.

It assumed that Delta would operate only 20 flights a day from the two gates, although Delta has scheduled 22 flights.

City?s consultants say Southwest is best choice for Dallas Love Field gates | Dallas Morning News

As a DFW commuter the more I think about it, let them have the gates at luv. If that means I don't have to walk by their ticket counters on my way to KCM and get blasted by that douchy music, it's worth it.

City of Dallas gives OK for Virgin America to get two Love Field gates | Dallas Morning News

Dun deal.

SWA better brang it.