Friday Afternoon Breaking News- Dallas

[northstar]

Dallas City Council-

"... American to be asked to leave Love Field..."

"... 9 year phase out of Wright Amend.... immediate ticketing lift..."

www.wfaa.com

 

[Palomino]

so to be fair then...AA gets mob rule over DFW airport?

and what happens to Continental's service at Love Field? are they part of the cat fight also?

nice compromise.

 

[Wingsweep]

Hope

I hope HK lives long enough to see this abomination go away. ws

 

[herewego again]

Official: Compromise could boot AA from Love http://www.dallasnews.com/img/standing/video_icon.gif


[SIZE=-1]01:41 PM CDT on Friday, June 9, 2006

[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]By EMILY RAMSHAW and SUZANNE MARTA / The Dallas Morning News[/SIZE]
American Airlines Inc. could be asked to leave Dallas Love Field as part of a possible compromise to phase out the Wright amendment, according to a Dallas official close to the negotiations.
Other terms include a multi-year phase out of the flight restrictions, immediate through ticketing, and limiting the airport's gates, according to three other Dallas officials.
Also Online http://www.dallasnews.com/img/standing/videowordbold.gif Chris Heinbaugh reports
Love Field becoming a hot ticket
City Council to study Love terminal options
Legend's ghost haunts Love


The officials, who declined to be identified because the terms are being closely held, said Friday that a local compromise on lifting flight restrictions at Love Field will involve limiting the airport's gates to 20, and phasing out the Wright law over nine years.
In limiting the number of gates, American Airlines-an opponent of lifting the Wright amendment-would no longer operate at Love Field. The airline currently operates 3 gates there.
Southwest Airlines would be limited to between 15 and 18 gates. Other airlines could continue to operate out of the remaining gates.
Mayor Laura Miller, who is leading negotiations with Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, said Friday she would not comment on the terms. Mr. Moncrief could not be reached.
The 1979 Wright amendment limits most commercial service from Love to a nine-state region.
With through-ticketing, passengers would be able to fly anywhere in the U.S. if they first stopped in a state within the Wright perimeter-for example, stopping in St. Louis on the way to Chicago or in Houston on the way to Tampa, Fla. Now, passengers must purchase two separate tickets to fly to those destinations from Love, diminishing potential cost savings.
But while Dallas and Fort Worth are close to a resolution, two of the officials said negotiations are still tangled over whether Fort Worth will agree to forgo passenger service at Alliance and Meacham airports.
When asked about the compromise, City Council member Ed Oakley would not give specifics. But he said negotiations have included a number of possible combinations: limiting gates at between 16 and 26, and phasing out Wright over 5 to 12 years.
"We're very close to having it resolved," he said. "But part of the sticking point is the resolution of the airports that are in Fort Worth's purview."
But three of the city officials said the resolution is far more specific, with 20 gates and a nine-year phase-out. And one official said the Fort Worth and Dallas mayors were "close to having a meeting of the minds" on the Fort Worth airports.
Mayor Miller plans to unveil a local compromise with Fort Worth by next Wednesday. Fort Worth's deadline is August 1.
American Airlines Inc. spokesman Roger Frizzell said Friday that the Fort Worth-based carrier could not comment because it had not seen an official proposal.
"It's still rumors and speculation," Mr. Frizzell said.
Mr. Frizzell rebuffed the idea of American leaving its three gates at Love Field.
“I can’t imagine seeing American moving out of Love Field under any circumstances, short of Wright remaining fully in place. At this point, it is only rumor and speculation, so there’s no real need to address this issue, but I don’t believe anyone should assume we would willingly move our operation and give up our best customers to Southwest,” he said.
Mr. Frizzell said that he hoped the proposal would provide a starting point for public hearings and debates over the issues by other parties before a final recommendation was made to Congress.
Southwest Airlines Co. wants full repeal of Wright so it can serve its nationwide network from Love, its home airport.
Southwest spokeswoman Ginger Hardage said she was waiting to see more details from the mayors.
"It's difficult to comment on rumors," Ms. Hardage said. "But the fact that there is there is wide acceptance that the Wright amendment is going to be repealed is a victory... As always, the devil is in details."

 

[PilotAg]

I don't get how an airport can say a particular company cannot operate out of airport. Seem to me that would also be another form of regulation in an unregulated industry. However, it is about time this issue is getting resolved. The ticketing lift is going to be huge. Our pax already use to stopping somewhere first but now that don't have to get off the airplne and can buy one ticket.

 

[Coool Hand Luke]

Yea, ok. So you limit the number of gates. That is until 5 or 10 years down the road when someone decides that's not fair anymore either...

 

[Flopgut]

Edited....And people wonder why I bring up Braniff all the time! Same story, different decade.

So if getting sold off to the highest non US bidder doesn't kill off the legacies, SWA stabbing them in the back will.

How do you SWA types even look at yourselves in the mirror?

 

[AAflyer]

Both SWA and American are to blame here. American needs the Wright Amendment to stay in place so they don't have to compete with SWA at their biggest hub. They know they have got north Texas and the surrounding states by the throat and they can and do rip off the traveling public with extremely high fares. SWA on the other hand, could easily fly from DFW if it wanted to and could go anywhere in the nation from there. They want to change the rules that every one else agreed to and now they are crying about it. I myself don't care. I don't care what happens here. Doesn't affect me in the slightest except when I want to fly out of the DFW metroplex to somewhere else in country. Pesonally, I would like to see the amendment lifted but then again, I would love to see the panic on the faces of American when SWA announces they are gonna fly out of DFW.

SWA at DFW

I guess we better just close the doors and go out of business, maybe we better pull out of LAX as well, and FLL, and MCO.

AA

 

[Hose A. Jiminez]

How do you SWA types even look at yourselves in the mirror?

Drama queen.

 

[nimtz]

YAWN! I'll just be overly joyed when this whole stupid debate is done. Hopefully SWA will take down the decroative propaganda at the gate in JAX. Could really care less how it is settled. Just wouldn't be a day on the crackpipe without a Wright Ammend debate.