"Here you have four competitors getting together and saying, 'Let's not compete,' That's anti-competitive. You are essentially developing a monopoly in various areas. So much of this deal was done not in the sunshine, and not in open meetings, This is a backroom deal where a couple of mayors got together with a couple of partisans and divided it up geographically."

Mayor Miller defended herself by saying that she'd been advocating the possibility of acquiring and demolishing the gates for over a year, and had said so publicly.

American responded with one of their usual talking points about there being plenty of room at DFW.

Any airline which desires to compete in North Texas has the opportunity to take any of the over 20 gates open at D/FW International Airport -- where airlines can provide service for all Metroplex citizens to anywhere in the world -- today."

Even Southwest's own Ed Stewart said,

"Such a charge would be baseless, simply because there are plenty of gates available at that world-class airport known as DFW International. Not to mention the airport has offered incentives for new airlines to serve that facility."

Call the exorcist! Ed Stewart's been possessed! By the dAArk side.

It was rumored that Continental wasn't happy about the loss of international through ticketing -- somethey were then able to do from Love Field through their hub in Houston. Northwest protested the deal and JetBlue took it a step further.

On June 29, Jetblue CEO David Neelemen sent a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of both the Committee on Tansportation and Infastrucure and the Aviation Subcommttee opposing the Love Field deal, saying it

. . . mostly seeks to replace one outdated regulation with a series of anticompetitive provisions that eliminates competition and protects a few select carriers, while permanently destroying one-third of all the available gates at a vital airport in a major city -- one Jetblue wishes to serve if the Wright Amendment is repealed.

As American Airlines, one of the parties to this private deal, succinctly argued recently in another matter involving legally imposed restrictions on airport access

Commercial air transportation has fundamental implications for interstate commerce, and thus, is heavily regulated by federal law. Local regulation is appropriate only if it is "reasonable, nondiscriminatory and nonburdensome to interstate commerce, and designed to accomplish a legitimate State objective in a manner that does not conflict with" federal law.

Submission by American Airlines vs the City of Long Beach - 04/29/02;

The private deal concerning Love Field is anything but reasonable, nondiscriminatory, nor nonburdensome to interstate commerce. It creates nothing more than an anticompetitive and discriminatory arrangement that protects two carriers by permanently excluding all competitors, ultimately at the expense of the traveling public in North Texas and across the nation.

The deal also flies in the face of federal law pertaining to grant asurances, which mandates that airports such as Love Field, must be open to all carriers on "reasonable conditions and without unjust discrimination." Indeed, as American itself observed, "airports should not play favorites or give a competitive advantage to one carier at the expense of others." Submission by American Airlines vs the City of Long Beach 04/29/02. Playing favorites on behalf of Southwest and American is precisely what the parties in Dallas are asking Congress to sanction.

While some in Congress have stated that eliminating one-third of the gates at Love Field and permanently excluding any competition for American and Southwest will somehow promote competition and provide economic benefits for the region, I believe precisely the opposite is true. Southwest has proven, as the early promoters of airlne deregulation predicted, that robust low fare competition stimulates customer demand and is the only means by which aviation can truly produce its maximum economic benefi. This is why JetBlue supported Southwest's initial efforts solely to repeal the Wright Amendment, and eliminate this artificial barrier to entry.

Southwest's campaign to open Love field, symbolized by the slogan "Wright is Wrong", has been forsaken and replaced with a private deal that will, if permitted to take effect, produce a major setback to America's deregulated aviation marketplace. The Commerce Committee of the Untied States Senate has direct oversight authority for aviation in our nation on behalf of all Americans, not a few entities which seek long term gain contrary to federal law. I urge you on behalf of JetBlue Airways and the traveling public to stop the deal in Dallas from becoming the law of the land. . .

The Boy's deal was far from "done."