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To: PAR35

These large cities have at least 2 airports without a Wright-type amendment. New York, Chicago, LA, Houston, SF/Oak, Wash D.C. None of these airports are threatened.
I live in Dallas...DFW represents big, overbloated govt. Love Field runs lean and mean plus easy access in and out. American Airlines has lots of snooty employees...not so with SouthWest....very nice and friendly and no penalty fees to change flights. Screw the Wright Amendment. DFW airport will survive just fine. SET LOVE FREE.


17 posted on 11/11/2005 8:03:06 PM PST by tflabo (Take authority that's ours)
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To: tflabo

Don't forget Miami/Fort Lauderdale. If you want to stretch the distances a little, you could come up with some additional pairs in Florida.

The Winston Salem area used to have two, but when Piedmont went away, so did one of the airports. Of course, it's still just about an hour to Raleigh-Durham.


25 posted on 11/11/2005 9:07:41 PM PST by PAR35
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To: tflabo

The WSJ recently ran an article about how locals benefit when an airline pulls out of a "hub." Congress should repeal the Wright amendment and let the markets work. Prices into and out of DFW would fall by 50% or more to lots of destinations, as discount carriers scoop up slots that American abandons, assuming, of course, that American does abandon slots, which I doubt. By disclosure, I own shares in American, but I still believe in free markets.


34 posted on 11/11/2005 9:36:19 PM PST by rebel_yell2
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To: tflabo
Actually, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs JFK, LaGuardia and Newark, has put in place a premier rule for LaGuardia Airport. Commercial flights over 1,500 miles are restricted from using LaGuardia (except to Denver, which was grandfathered in, or on Saturdays). So you can't even fly from LaGuardia to Austin or San Antonio non-stop, let alone the West Coast. This rule was put in place in part to protect long-haul traffic at JFK.

The Wright Amendment was enacted to allow DFW to be economically built. Otherwise, Dallas residents would have continued just use Love Field and Fort Worth residents Alliance Airport (IIRC, which is also covered under the amendment), and no one would have driven to the new airport which was then in the middle of nowhere. The thought was that everyone in the then relatively small Metroplex would benefit from having one large airport in the middle, with more flights at more times to more places. Whether the rule is still necessary today is debatable. I doubt Love Field could handle a lot of additional traffic - it's not as large as DFW.

An airline could also get around the Wright Amendment by flying planes with 50 seats or less from Dallas Love Field. Those planes could fly to any destination. A start-up carrier tried to do this in the 1990s, was sued by American Airlines and won, but ran out of money shortly after actually starting up because they had to pay millions to their lawyers. And flying 50-seaters just isn't economical.
36 posted on 11/12/2005 12:02:54 AM PST by conservative in nyc
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