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WASHINGTON- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, trying to preserve a hard-fought compromise on the Wright Amendment, wants U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to back off any review of the agreement that would eventually repeal restrictions at Dallas Love Field. Hutchison sent a terse letter to Gonzales on Tuesday asking him to recuse the department from any input on a bill she sponsored. The bill contains the agreement forged by Dallas and Fort Worth officials, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Her letter was triggered by a Justice Department staff memo circulated on Capitol Hill last week that...

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports JetBlue and Northwest Airlines will actively fight the Wright Amendment compromise reached by American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and D/FW leaders. The Star-Telegram reports the airlines claim the compromise was hatched in a back room and would stifle competition. Just as the mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth huddled in Washington with airline executives and congressional leaders, word of the first opposition takes flight. JetBlue and Northwest said they were never invited to the settlement talks. The compromise, opening up Dallas Love Field to nationwide flights over eight years, was struck between...

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...

Eighty percent of the respondents to a Dallas Business Journal online poll about the Wright Amendment said the amendment should remain in place with 19 percent saying it should be repealed. The remainder of respondents were undecided. More than 9,400 people responded to the unscientific poll, which ran on the DBJ Web site, dallas.bizjournals.com, from Dec. 5 to Dec. 18. The Wright Amendment, passed in 1979, is a federal law that limits long-haul flights from Dallas Love Field, home of discount carrier Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV - News), which is trying to get the law repealed. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...

Several Dallas City Council members, including Mayor Laura Miller, say they are surprised and upset that Dallas Love Field has been dipping into its reserves to pay off deficits. Now they want answers. Airport officials say they are trying to cut costs and raise revenues, looking at everything from parking rates to landing fees. On Wednesday, council members Mitchell Rasansky and Angela Hunt sent a joint memo to City Manager Mary Suhm asking for a full council briefing "as soon as possible in January." Hunt said she has also asked the city auditor's office to examine how the airport...

(CBS 11 News) CBS 11 News has learned the City of Dallas is negotiating with Southwest and Continental Airlines to raise landing fees at Dallas Love Field. The situation has angered the mayor and city council members, who will receive a briefing on the airport budget problems in January. With operating losses at Love Field and Executive Airport climbing to more than $5.5 million, the city is now taking action. Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans told CBS 11 News he's pushing staffers to raise the landing fees paid Southwest and Continental airlines charge their customers. Higher landing fees would give...

President Bush is expected to sign a bill today that will open up air service between Dallas Love Field and points in Missouri for the first time since 1979, when Congress imposed limits in the Wright Amendment. "The president is expected to sign the bill [today]," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. In the morning, the president is giving a major speech on Iraq at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Upon his return to the White House, Duffy said, Bush will sign several appropriations bills, including a bill funding the Transportation Department and other agencies. That bill contains...

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators agreed on Thursday to exempt Missouri from restrictions on direct air service from Dallas Love Field to several states, an issue that has Texas rivals' Southwest Airlines and American Airlines locked in a bitter fight. House-Senate lawmakers hammering out details of a spending bill for transportation and treasury programs agreed to the Missouri exemption to a 26-year-old law called the Wright Amendment. The exemption was sponsored by Sen. Christopher Bond, a Missouri Republican. Congress has approved similar waivers for other states in the past. Budget powerhouse Southwest wants the Wright Amendment repealed to...

WASHINGTON -- Two senators unveiled a bill Tuesday aimed at closing Dallas Love Field to commercial air traffic, forcing Southwest Airlines Co. to move to D/FW Airport to serve North Texas. The bill, from Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, came on the same day that separate legislation was introduced in the Senate to allow long-haul flights from Love Field. Aviation experts and Senate aides said the Inhofe-Harkin proposal was unlikely to be enacted. But the mounting opposition underscored a fight had been joined in the Senate and that Southwest and its allies face a tough political battle...

As Southwest Airlines has grown into the nation's dominant discount airline, overwhelming the competition at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and forcing other carriers to match its low-cost model, the one place it hasn't been able to expand is in its hometown. For 26 years, a federal law named after a former speaker of the House has limited where Southwest can fly from Dallas Love Field, a move made to protect Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport when it was new. Today, DFW is five times Love Field's size and is dominated by Fort Worth-based American Airlines. Southwest released a report this week contending...

With Air-India eyeing the Texas market for its newest on-ground hub, Houston and Dallas are engaged in an aerial dogfight to determine which city will land the India's national airline. Houston has an advantage in demographics with 120,000 residents of Indian descent, and aviation officials in the city estimate that bringing Air-India to Bush Intercontinental Airport would generate at least $200 million in economic benefits to the area. The Houston Business Journal, however, quoted John Massey, manager of Air-India's marketing programme in New York City as saying that "Right now, there are no definite plans." "There are no formal decisions...

Speaking to reporters at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce aviation conference, Mr. Kelleher also said he would be amenable to an incremental phaseout of the Love Field limits. Although he didn't have a specific timetable, Mr. Kelleher said the federal law could be eased over time by gradually allowing routes between Love Field and additional cities. "We are totally open to how you approach it," Mr. Kelleher said. The 1979 Wright law was written to protect Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport by limiting standard commercial jets flying to and from Love Field to Texas' adjoining states. The law was later amended...

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...