D/fw Aims To Woo The Love Out Of Southwest

[corl737]

D/FW aims to woo the Love out of Southwest

12:15 PM CDT on Friday, July 8, 2005

By ERIC TORBENSON / The Dallas Morning News

Officials at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Friday launched a charm offensive aimed at getting Southwest Airlines Co. to move some or all its operations to D/FW.

Using a sign towed behind an airplane reading “Travelers want Southwest at DFW Nowâ€￾, the airport is beginning an advertising campaign that urges Southwest to stop its fight to repeal the Wright amendment and to instead launch service from D/FW.

The airport polled 2,700 travelers at D/FW over the Fourth of July weekend, and 62 percent of them wanted Southwest to serve D/FW. Southwest serves Dallas Love Field, where the Wright amendment limits how far flights can travel. Southwest wants the law repealed so it can fly anywhere from Love Field, where it has its headquarters.

Southwest has adamantly said it has no interest in going to D/FW, though it examined the possibility last fall before concluding that its strategy was to repeal the 25-year-old Wright amendment.

“We’re not fighters, we’re lovers,â€￾ said Joe Lopano, vice president of marketing for D/FW, to several hundred D/FW employees who rode employee shuttle buses to the Frontiers of Flight museum across Love Field from Southwest’s headquarters. D/FW officials say they’ll do practically anything to get Southwest to add service there.

 

[corl737]

... D/FW officials say they’ll do practically anything to get Southwest to add service there.

[post="280763"][/post]​

Uh huh. Right. I wonder if they'll actually make a reasonable offer to SWA, one that doesn't have so many strings attached that it's nothing more than a hollow gesture made only for the public relations impression that they, DFW, are nothing but vicitms being shunned by an uncooperative monopolistic airline. Oh, I forgot, they already have to appease AA!

(The current DFW "offer" stipulates that a new airline entrant must: initiate service such that at least 10 gates are utilized within the first year; All 22 available gates in Terminal E must be contracted; and the majority of service (70% if I recall) must be placed or routes not currently served from DFW.)

I could see SWA starting DFW service if:

1) DFW constructs a dedicated terminal facility on the far-east side of the airport boundary.
2) SWA aircraft are guaranteed to operate from runways 17L/35R or 13L/31R, regardless of direction of departure or arrival. (Other runways used only if weather requires, not AA traffic flow.)
3) A new maintenance facility is constructed or the old Delta hangar is made available.

Even then, however, I wouldn't hold my breath!