Posted on 11/13/2004 5:50:49 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said Friday an effort by Tennessee lawmakers to change the 1979 law that bans direct flights from Dallas Love Field to Nashville could help Love Field grow.
The so-called Wright amendment was enacted in 1979 to benefit the then-new Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
It permitted carrier service from Love Field and points within Texas and the neighboring states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
In 1997 it was modified to permit flights to Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi as well.
The Tennessee proposal faces an uncertain fate in Congress.
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has indicated skepticism, saying Delta's retreat from DFW could harm the big airport.
Kelly called the law anticompetitive and says it's no longer needed because DFW is established as a booming hub for Fort Worth-based American Airlines.
What do people in Dallas think about this?
Wasn't Southwest thinking about taking some of Delta's spaces at DFW??
And speaking of Southwest, the ABQJournal reported last week that they were seriously thinking of abandoning cattle car seating and going to reserved seats. Anyone heard any more about this?
What's the talk up that way?...... I guess I wasn't aware of the Wright Amendment limiting flights by SW out of Love. I was looking recently and found out you couldn't get flights out of Love to CA whereas you could out of Hobby in Houston. Now I understand why.
Talk about stupid protectionist laws ...
Ping
Gosh, I wish SWA would fly from Fresno.
Its waaay overdue! Flying out of DFW is incredibly expensive, because AA has a monopoly. SWA is killing them, the Walmart of the Airline Industry. Its cheaper in Houston to fly to NY than from Dallas. nothing will save DFW Airport. AA and Delta are the main airlines and they are both going down because of poor management. As far as I'm concerned, it should all be turned over to SWA to run!
You wrote:
Wasn't Southwest thinking about taking some of Delta's spaces at DFW??
Yes. The Wright Amendment doesn't apply to DFW.
And speaking of Southwest, the ABQJournal reported last week that they were seriously thinking of abandoning cattle car seating and going to reserved seats. Anyone heard any more about this?
Haven't heard this. You can now print your boarding PASSES online so (theoretically) you can get good seats if you get to the airport at a reasonable hour. I am OK with the current system of seat selection.
There are 16 gates at Love that are unoccupied, and no other airline seems to want to go there.
American is being squeezed by SW at Love and AirTrans at DFW.
One reason Wright put that amendment in was to protect Fort Worth. The DFW airport is closer to Fort Worth than is Love Field. Hobby has the advantage in Houston of being closer to downtown while being on the other side of Houston. Bush Intercontinental and Hobby tend to draw customers from different parts of Houston for domestic flights. Love Field and DFW are just a few miles apart so they would compete for many of the same customers. I rather wish there were an airport in Fort Worth that had passenger service.
I would LOVE for the Wright ammendment to be over-turned!! It's just not right that we have to choose a more expensive airline at DFW because Southwest isn't allowed to fly very far.
I think the Wright Ammendment is absurd! I cannot take a direct Southwest flight to St. Louis to visit my daughter and her family. Love Field is ten miles from my home. DFW is thirty-five miles, crossing Dallas County all the way.
My travel is being manipulated by a congress way up there in Washington, D.C. Is it REALLY any of their business??
If DFW cannot "fly on it's own" by now, they have more problem than mere competition from Southwest Airlines and Love Field.
Who cares what they think? It's not hurting just them! It's a FEDERAL law--restraining trade and hurting the COUNTRY, not just Dallas. This is a stupid law that has lousy consequences for anyone who flies Southwest and other airlines out of the area.
This Fort Worth boy thinks the Wright Amendment is stupid and should be voided. When my parents were alive, I was stuck with the AA monopoly from DFW to St. Louis. What I would not have given to fly Southwest.
We think it's about damn time this ridiculous amendment is repealed.
I say KILL this cra* law!Let the market decide.
bump!
I wonder who's pocket she's in? AA? Daschle's wife?
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