Another read on this subject
Remember the tempest-in-a-terminal brouhaha a couple years ago over eliminating the Wright Amendment? It's baaack.
The original intent of the Wright Amendment was basically to protect DFW by limiting service at DAL to Texas and adjoining states. (Since that time, there have been some revisions, but it's basically still in place.) For the first 25 years after DFW opened, all was fairly quiet.
Then about four years ago, the subject bubbled to the surface, with calls for more gates at Love, and a lifting of the Wright Amendment. The usual suspects in the analyst cognoscenti predicted that airlines would just flood Love - maybe even leave DFW - if these restrictions were removed. New airlines would enter the Dallas Metroplex market at Love, not DFW, according to some of the accepted wisdom of the time. The rationale, it seems, was the fact that Love is "close-in" and therefore would be the airport of choice, sort of a Texas LaGuardia with fewer muggings.
All of which, of course, was hogwash.
We covered this a couple of years ago, when Legend Airlines attempted service at DAL. As soon as they started, American Airlines rushed in with 56-seat F-100s in all first class configuration. We figured at the time that this ridiculous competitive smokescreen cost AA tens of millions, what with a new sub-fleet within their collection of maintenance-hog F-100s, the diversion (not stimulation) of traffic from their existing DFW flights, and the whole added expense of a separate DAL operation.
Then Delta began tossing RJs from Love to Atlanta, where they had to fare-compete against AirTran at DFW, as well as offer an inferior product compared to mainline Delta service 17 miles away at DFW. But the feeling was that consumers preferred Love to DFW.
Wrong.
When the dust settled, Legend was gone, its terminal empty. AA then suddenly discovered that its F-100 operation wasn't so great after all. Delta finally yanked its RJs. All returned to normalcy. With the exception of some Continental Express RJs to IAH, all is back to where it was before.
At the time all this was going on, Southwest played Swiss and remained "passionately neutral" on the issue. That was then. This past week Southwest came out and verbalized what's been obvious for a decade. As a vehicle to "protect" the viability of DFW, the Wright Amendment is the equivalent of guarding a fully-armed battleship with a pop gun. Southwest said it clearly - the Wright Amendment has degenerated into an anti-consumer excuse to hamper competition in the Metroplex.
Expensive Myths. The fact is that Love isn't close in, unless you're going just to downtown Dallas, or headed over to Harry Hines Boulevard to visit alternative literary centers. The fact is that DFW is not out in the boonies - it's right in the middle of what's happening in the region. It's a 20-25 minute ride to Dallas, give or take traffic. Love Field isn't much closer in terms of travel time, and it's really inconvenient to downtown Ft. Worth, which DFW is not. The fact is that DFW, not DAL, accesses the entire Metroplex, including the Alliance-Northwest Quadrant, where the majority of the region's growth is located. The fact is that it's unlikely that an airline seeking to enter the Dallas-Ft.Worth market would do so at congested Love Field, which accesses a much smaller catchment area than DFW International.
In response to Southwest's statement, DFW International has issued a broadside of fear grenades. Opening Love would threaten DFW's $2 billion expansion program, they claim. Just how isn't made clear, except for the veiled contention that airlines would leave giant DFW for the couple square miles of highly constricted property called Love. American, trying to protect turf, is also in full metal jacket mode, saying that "an agreement is an agreement" that shouldn't be changed.
What If The Amendment Was Trashed? If Jim Wright's law went away, there wouldn't be any mad rush to serve Love, but Southwest would take its 737NG fleet and connect dots to virtually every major point it now serves. This would tend to bring more fare competition to markets like SEA, SAN, PVD, PDX, etc. The DFW airport says that it's trying to get more low-fare airlines at DFW, which begs the questions - who, and where? First, DFW has or will have such service from just about every large low-cost airline. They have AirTran, which may have expansion plans for DFW. They will get JetBlue. They have Frontier.
True, Southwest going national from Love would do a number to American's yields in a lot of nonstop markets. And, true, WN would have the benefit of connecting traffic at DAL, just like AA does at DFW, providing an on-segment premium of feed revenue. No doubt, letting WN fly anywhere from DAL would be a hit to American.
It's something called competition.
Nonstop Fare Competition - It's WN Or Nobody In Many Markets. What DFW Airport isn't mentioning that there isn't a low fare carrier - nor will there likely be one other than maybe AirTran sometime in the distant future - that's interested in SAN-DFW. Or PDX-DFW. Or PVD-DFW. Southwest is the only real-world candidate that could bring lower fares in these types of markets from the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex. Keeping the obsolete Wright Amendment in place guarantees that many markets like these will remain nonstop fiefdoms for American Airlines. To be sure, it is honorable and logical for AA to take the side in this matter that fits its own best interests. DFW International Airport, however, should re-assess its position. It should be looking out for the consumer.
Stimulated Traffic Demand For All. A Southwest freed up to go where they want from Love, lowering fares in key markets, would stimulate traffic for both airports, not steal it from DFW. And again, DFW isn't some fragile flower that needs protecting. It's the nation's number four airport in terms of passengers. Its traffic is up 13% so far this year. It has enormous runway capacity. It has a hubbing carrier - American - that will turn it into the #2 gateway to China by the end of the decade. It has superb ground access and, soon, a comprehensive rail access system. When you compare this to Love Field - hemmed in on all sides, with a traffic-light laden access to a single four-lane entrance road, it is patently ridiculous for DFW to paint its cross-town neighbor as a straw man to be feared.
Now Enter The Politicians. Just wait until the politicians hit the dance floor with this one. It's a ready-made soap box for every senator and congress member across the nation. Elected officials now have a villain - the Wright Amendment - to blame as the reason that their two-bit burg doesn't have Southwest service.
Watch for Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) - the senate majority leader - to get involved both publicly and behind the scenes. Senator Shelby (R-AL) has been vocal about the subject for years. In fact, just about everybody outside the Wright perimeter may join in. And on the other side of rational thought, we can probably depend on Senator Kay Bailey-Hutchinson (R-TX) to stagger in with some ambivalent, lamebrained arguments supporting the Wright Amendment. Assuming, of course, that somebody gives her the script to read.
Unlike past shots at the Wright Amendment, this time it may go all the way.
