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July 4 - 2006 So was this new deal really anti-competitive as some of the airlines complained it was? To some extent, yes. The current agreement unfairly benefited the two Texas-based legacy carriers because they each had another hub within the perimeter-- AA had St. Louis and CO had Houston Intercontinental. It also benefited Texas-based Southwest because they had many large stations within the perimeter through which they could funnel passengers. These three carriers could offer nonstop and connecting mainline service from Love Field through their other airports/hubs within the perimeter. All the other legacy and low-cost carriers were left out because their hubs/focus cities were outside the perimeter. They had a marketing disadvantage because they could only offer nonstop and connecting regional jet service from Love Field. And even if the geograhic limitations were lifted, there was the issue of there not being enough gates for new carriers. Cutting the number of gates from 32 to 20 and renewing both AA's and Southwest's existing leases through 2028, effectively locked up the remaining gates by the three incumbents. If Love Field had stuck with the 32 gate plan, Continental could have kept their two, American could have kept their three and maybe Southwest would have been willing to settle for 17 gates (out of their current 21) and give up the other four to Love Field to be utilized on a common-use basis. Pinnacle/Northwest could have been over at the Legend Terminal. That would have made Love Field a little more competitive for other carriers and would have given Southwest and AA one more extra gate than they'll each wind up with now. Additionally, this plan would have split the auto traffic around Love Field. Most of the traffic would still be through the main entrance for customers whose airlines had gates in the main terminal, but Northwest's customers would be over on Lemmon Avenue. The 32 gate - 250 daily flight limit envisioned in the 2001 master plan was based on each gate handling eight "turns" per day -- eight departing and eight arriving flights. 32 gates times 8 flights = 256 total. Southwest uses their gates more often, some of the other gates are used less. If there were four common use gates that got used eight times per day, that would be 32 roudtrips per day by other carriers. None of the other carriers have any major presence at DFW and most likely wouldn't at Love Field, either. Three or four common use gates would be plenty for other airlines to do what they'd probably want to do at Love Field if the phaseout period were to be shortened. According to a Sherry Jacobson column in the Dallas Morning News on June 15, 2006:
Pat White, who co-chairs the Citizens Action Committee, said it was her group's idea to reduce the number of gates at Love Field -- from 32 to 20 -- if the Wright amendment flight restrictions are lifted in eight years. Fewer gates would keep the impact of larger airplanes and more flights "virtually neutral" on the surrounding residential areas, she said.
The original 2001 Love Field Master Plan called for more gates because back then it was expected that some of the potential new additional service at Love Field would be from airlines using regional jets to go outside the Wright perimeter. This regional jet service was factored into the noise and traffic considerations to come up with the 32 gate total. The Legend Terminal was considered perfect for this type of service. So now, 5 years later, Dallas finally had an airline (Pinnacle) who was willing to provide some more regional jet service as was envisioned in the 2001 master plan -- and they were willing to provide such sevice within the confines of the current Wright/Shelby resrtrictions, and the City of Dallas scares them away-- paying good money to tear down the terminal. Northwest (Pinnacle) might have started with regional jet service to it's Memphis hub -- a distance of 432 miles -- not an unreasonable length for a flight in a regional jet. The real beauty of the Legend Terminal -- and probably why Pinnacle and Northwest were interested -- is because the terminal was made for DC-9's and Northwest has many in their fleet. Once the phaseout period was over, NW could have upgraded service to DC-9's and flown to all three of their hubs in Memphis, Minneapolis and Detroit. The three DC-9 aircraft types used by Northwest carried beween 100 and 125 people each --more than Legend's reconfigured DC-9's but less than the 737's and MD-80's used by Southwest and AA. It was reported years ago that Legend's terminal occupany was 800 people. So if DC-9s were being used, all 6 gates probably couldn't be used at once. Even though there'd be room for all the planes on the apron, the terminal wouldn't be big enough to hold all the arriving and departing passengers. So why not do this? As long a regional jet is using the facility, allow 1 gate for each plane. If mainline jets were being used -- 2 gates get "used." You could have 6 regional jets, 3 mainline jets or a combination of the two (1 mainline and 4 rj's or 2 mainline and 2 rjs) parked at that terminal at any given time. That's a much more business-friendly and cost effective way of controlling noise and traffic around the neighborhood -- keeping the impact "virtually neutral" as the Love Field Citizens Action Committee has claimed they want to do. Paragraph 6 of the agreement suggested that DFW would oppose efforts (of any airline) to initiate commercial passenger air service during the 8-year period at airports within an 80-mile radius of Love Field. In essence, Dallas and Ft. Worth were attempting to impose restrictions upon airports outside of their jurisdiction through federal legislation, There were many other issues for lawmakers to consder. It's possible that Southwest privately had misgivings about certain provisions in the agreement, but signed off on it anway -- just to get the proposal before Congress. Maybe that had been Southwest's game plan all along. They'd spent both time and money and put forth a lot of effort over the years fighting the Wright Amendment -- without help from any of the other carriers. A plan that mainly benefited the three Texas-based carriers at the exclusion of everyone else was sure to invite criticism from others in the industry. Maybe it might be easier to ditch the whole plan, eliminate the Wright Amendment and use other methods to control noise, traffic and growth around Love Field. If they couldn't ditch the plan all together, they could chip away at some of its provisions. Already, the Dallas Morning News reported, changes to the original agreement were being crafted. Some of the proposed changes would:
At any rate, the other airlines and the public felt they should at least get to have their say. And they would. Hearings were set for July 12. |
| Plea to Congress
(Now Congress, hear our plea)
More competition
We think you know (instrumental bridge)
How Dallas longs
So Set Love Free,
The Wright Amendment
This law's insane
Please, |
| This site was started by an Austin flyer and is dedicated to North Texas residents and employees of Love Field and Southwest Airlines who are working hard to get this law repealed. This site is not affiliated with Southwest Airlines, Dallas Love Field or the City of Dallas.
For more information on the Wright Amendment and to find out how you can help, please visit the following websites.
 
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