After years of remaining neutral on the Wright Amendment — that law that restricts flights from Dallas’s Love Field Airport — Southwest Airlines is now calling the rule “anticompetitive” and “outdated”.
It’s about time.
The Wright Amendment was enacted in 1979 to facilitate the success of the then new Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which was built in a rural area in the northern part of the Metroplex between Dallas and Ft. Worth. Dallas’ other airport — Love Field — enjoys a near-downtown location. In order to funnel air traffic to DFW, the Wright Amendment banned interstate service from Love Field on jets with more than 56 seats to all but seven states near Texas.
When DFW was built, Southwest did not want to move to DFW and has never had any service at the bigger airport. DFW is the dominant hub of AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, which has enjoyed the respite from competitive pressures that the Wright Amendment provides. That anti-competitive effect has been part of the reason why American has been slow to adapt to the rapidly changing airline industry, in which discount carriers such as Southwest have brought an era of lower fares and additional seats. The “legacy airlines” such as American, Delta, and United are reeling as a result.
The Wright Amendment — which was questionable policy at best at the time it was enacted — is clearly obsolescent. The area around DFW is no longer rural and the airport is now literally in the center of the northern part of the Metroplex. Moreover, Southwest is now a national airline, and it is inhibited from servicing that national network of flights from its hub at Love Field.
At DFW, Delta Air Lines recently announced that it is abandoning its unprofitable hub, which is cutting 250-plus daily flights to about 45. Although that move will increase American’s dominance at DFW in the short run, industry observers expect some of the discount carriers to make a play for some or all of Delta’s old gates at DFW.
Nevertheless, Southwest contends that it is going to remain at Love Field despite the galling Wright Amendment restriction on long haul flights from that airport. But Southwest is using Delta’s exit as proof that DFW does not need the Wright Amendment’s protection anymore. Southwest notes that many cities — including New York, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles — enjoy the benefits of two airports without any need of the “protections” afforded to DFW by the Wright Amendment.
As you would expect, American Airlines disagrees. In a statement issued Friday, American stated that the Wright Amendment is just as relevant today as it was when it first passed and helps preserve DFW’s position as the principle aviation gateway for North Texas.
Folks, that type of thinking is a big part of the reason why American Airlines is in the poor financial shape that it currently finds itself, particulary in comparison to that of Southwest. It will be interesting to watch the politicians line up in regard to this particular issue. The issue will be a good barometer for determining whether a particular politician is attempting to protect the public’s best interests or simply interested in keeping the money flowing into a campaign chest from legacy airlines such as American. Stay tuned.
The Wrong Amendment
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