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Posted on 06/01/2006 1:18:25 AM PDT by Energy Alley
Southwest willing to deal, CEO says
By TREBOR BANSTETTER and DAVID WETHE STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITERS
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines’ top executive insisted Wednesday that his airline is willing to compromise on efforts to lift the Wright Amendment and accused rival American Airlines of trying to hinder negotiations.
Gary Kelly, chief executive of Dallas-based Southwest, said he has offered three proposals to the mayors of Fort Worth and Dallas on the Wright issue. He also said Southwest has offered to give up some of its gates at Dallas Love Field in exchange for lifting the Wright restrictions, which allow flights from Love Field only within Texas and to nearby states.
“The mayors have had several meetings with us, while American was asked to attend but declined,” Kelly told about 500 members of the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce at the group’s annual luncheon.
American has offered no proposals “other than the status quo,” Kelly said.
An American spokesman took issue with that characterization.
“American has been in constant dialogue with the mayors as they look for a solution to the Love Field problem,” spokesman Tim Wagner said. “Any assertion to the contrary is inaccurate.”
He added that “Southwest is simply trying to manipulate the process by spreading misinformation publicly.”
Kelly’s speech came as two North Texas congressmen are planning to revive their efforts to repeal the amendment.
Reps. Jeb Hensarling, R-Dallas, and Sam Johnson, R-Plano, have scheduled a news conference for today to discuss their drive to end the Love Field restrictions.
Last May, Hensarling and Johnson filed a bill that would allow nonstop flights from Love Field to all 50 states. The bill now has 45 co-sponsors.
Southwest has also resumed lobbying on the issue after a self-imposed moratorium, Kelly said. He hinted that the airline may also begin some new advertising on the issue.
“Stay tuned,” he said.
Last year, Southwest ran television ads that poked fun at the amendment, comparing it to other outdated laws. A public-interest group backed by American, called Stop and Think, has recently run a series of pro-Wright ads.
Southwest, which flies from Love and has its corporate headquarters near the airport, began a drive in late 2004 to have the measure repealed, arguing that it is outdated and anti-consumer. American, based in Fort Worth, opposes the effort and argues that a repeal would damage its hub at nearby Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.
Southwest refuses to move its flights to D/FW despite numerous overtures from the airport, including an incentive offer.
This year the mayors of Fort Worth and Dallas began meeting to craft a solution to the squabble. The effort to broker a compromise came after warnings from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, that Congress might move on the issue without input from local officials unless the cities offered their own recommendation.
Dallas gave itself a deadline of June 14 to come up with a proposal, and Fort Worth said it would have its own proposal by Aug. 1.
Dallas officials are awaiting the results of a study by DMJM Aviation of Tampa, Fla., on what would happen to Love Field if the Wright Amendment were repealed. The $152,000 analysis was originally set to be done by May 20 but was delayed until about the first or second week in June.
“They’re upgrading it, they’re answering additional things,” Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said Wednesday. “Our deadline is June 14, so that’s what we’re shooting for.”
So far, the mayors and their teams of negotiators have been able to get in a room together only once.
Councilman Ed Oakley, one of three council members on Dallas’ team, said he’s surprised they’ve not been able to meet more but said the mayors have done “a pretty good job” in leading the charge.
He said it would be too hard to negotiate with either of the airlines along with five other council members from Fort Worth and Dallas.
Oakley said he believes the update to the Love Field master plan will show that the number of gates will have to be reduced because of the increased traffic that would come from a repeal of the 1979 law.
Kelly said Southwest would be willing to give up some of the 21 gates it leases at the airport. He would not specify how many but said the airline needs at least 14, the number it now operates.
Both negotiating teams agreed at their meeting that they want to protect their investment in D/FW Airport.
“The sticking point has now become the other airports that the two cities now control,” Oakley said.
Trebor Banstetter, 817-390-7064
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By God, I for one, love Southwest.
You got that right!
I love how DFW keeps claiming that SWA could fly out of there today with "no problems."
Sure, if they want to get crushed by AMR. When Delta pulled out, it is rumored that SWA said that they'd take Delta's gates, but only if they could get them on the exact same terms as AMR did. Well, DFW balked at that, so SWA walked.
There's a lot of AMR/DFW corruption.
Has Southwest ever offered to buy Love and operate it as their own private facility? Or, short of that, offered to buy the terminal and take responsibility for runway and facility maintenance above and beyond the costs of any other city's secondary general aviation airport? That seems like a compromise no one could (publicly) object to.
Even if not, the Wright Amendment is currently anticompetitive and should be killed in favor of a free market. But all the "Set Love Free" nonsense just comes off as Southwest wanting the taxpayers to pay for an airport just for them in addition to the one they run for everyone else.
It seems that SouthWest and American are fighting with their various bribed Congressmen and officials. I hope they kill that amendment.
The City of Dallas has forestalled that by saying that Love Field and its facilities are not for sale at any price. (It makes too much money for the city.)
And Love is Dallas' *primary* general aviation airport, not its secondary. DFW is its own city and really is closer to Fort Worth. Addison Airport is in Addison. Alliance is in Fort Worth. That pretty much leaves Redbird Airport in far south Dallas, and that field can't take anything the size of a 737, IIRC.
Both Continental and American also fly out of Love. Delta pulled out after 9-11, but given their current level of service at DFW, they might as well move all their operations back to Love.
Redbird isn't Redbird any more. They changed the name in a failed attempt to make folks forget it was in a high crime area. (The strategy didn't work for Redbird Mall, either.) It could easily handle a 737, however. One source shows a 6451 ft main runway. Addison is 7200 ft. McKinney is about 7,000.
Of course, if you want a long runway, there is always the old NAS site in Grand Prarie. It's either owned by the City of Dallas, or they have the rights to own it once the remediation is complete.
Yeah, I know they changed the name, but I'll always remember it as Redbird. That said, isn't there a problem with the runway where it can't take the weight of a 737 or something? I recall hearing some pilots of my acquaintance discussing it when the Love Field/Wright Amendment fight started.
It's absolultely incredible that the people of Dallas-Ft. Worth are so willing to be PRICE-GOUGED when it comes to airline competition. But then again, if they have no problem being PRICE-GOUGED--I say leave it alone, THEY DESERVE IT!
http://www.setlovefree.com/historyofwright.html
It reminds me of this quote:
One of the ugliest consequences of the loss of economic freedom and respect for property rights is that it makes such spinelessness and gutlessness on the part of businessmen — such amorality — a requirement of succeeding in business. Business today is conducted in the face of all pervasive government economic intervention. There is rampant arbitrary and often unintelligible legislation. There are dozens of regulatory agencies that combine the functions of judge, jury, and prosecutor in the enforcement of more than 75,000 pages of Federal regulations alone. The tax code is arbitrary and frequently unintelligible. Judicial protection of economic freedom has not existed since 1937, when the Supreme Court abandoned it, out of fear of being enlarged by Congress with new members sufficient to give a majority to the New Deal on all issues.
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