and it is entirely possible that UA has offered... the point may be that DL is in another sublease position and may not be able to operate the size of operation it could.
also based on the DAL lease agreements, UA would have to accommodate new entrants as well. Unless they use their gates, they are having company anyway - which is probably why DL knows it can run a chunk of its proposed operation out of UA's gates regardless of what happens with Virgin. But DL doesn't want to be subject to whatever whims UA might have including deciding to sublease the gates to another carrier.
E is correct. ORD did what it had to do. There is nothing that guarantees an airline access to any airport at a cheap price. No one said that WN or DL aren't willing to pay a premium to have the gates at DAL; Virgin certainly is willing.
Further, if Virgin paid a bunch of money to American in order to get into DAL, their economics will forever bear the price of that transaction.
In a way, though, it is exactly what AA wants: a carrier that has taken millions of dollars in revenue from AA to pay for the privilege of doing it again.
The whole notion that AA should be paid to give up its lease at DAL in itself is flawed. AA can't use its lease. Unlike slots which the federal government has said are property of airlines, airport leases only provide the right for an airline to use facilities - and the lease prices that AA would have received are no different from what any other airline should pay.
It is precisely why DAL's motives get questionable for allowing the reassignment of a lease when AA can't return and the price AA pays is no different from what any other airline should pay.
BTW,
here is a good article about the whole situation with some pretty scathing comments about WN.
Most people in the Metroplex recognize that neither DFW or DAL should be dominated by one airline.
he echoes a lot of the very same comments I have made.
The biggest flaw in this reasoning is that Southwest hasn't even unveiled its scheduling data for the 15 new markets it plans to introduce starting in the fall. The carrier is allegedly going to release this information in May 2014, but likely is awaiting for the gate awarding decision to be finalized prior to doing so. Obviously, the access to two additional gates could have a scalable impact on scheduling decisions and gate assignments, so this is all fair and rational.
However, the L.E.K. findings pre-supposes the conclusion that being capped at 16 gates maximum will present major constraints for Southwest, limiting its expansion possibilities and network scale from the airport.
Again, those assumptions are entirely hyperbolic for several reasons.
For starters, Southwest IS the largest domestic airline by passengers transported. By no means is the airline constrained in terms of growth opportunities across its system-wide network other than the fact that it has chosen, on its own accord, to avoid expanding into international boundaries until its recent acquisition of AirTran. To that end, not only is the carrier commencing overseas operations starting this summer, it has also successfully managed to lobby the city of Houston to build an international gateway at Hobby airport with a Federal Inspection Services facility slated to open next year.
These, combined with the Wright Amendment deal, is another notch in the Southwest belt that gleans how it often is able to get what it wants.
The second irony in the whole situation is that Southwest has always publicly taken affront to the concept of creating "hub" airports across its system, even though it has large-scale operations at mid-continent airports in cities such as Houston, Denver, Chicago and even Dallas Love, which STILL ranks as one of its top-10 largest stations in spite of the Wright Amendment restrictions which have been in place since inception.
If Southwest truly had envisioned plans to transform Dallas into one of its largest "hub" markets, then it could have taken an economic incentive packaged offered by DFW Airport in 2005 to expand into vacated Terminal E when Delta shut down its hub at the airport. Southwest would have had access to 22 gates, 6 more beyond what it has today at Love, along with other incentives such as waived airport fees and the ability to draw from a larger traffic base centralized in the mid-cities between Dallas and Fort Worth. It could have also flown international routes from DFW, something it will not be able to do from Dallas Love.
Instead, Southwest chose to engage in a legal battle, which was victorious, albeit costly, for the carrier, and agreed to the terms of the settlement to be capped at 16 gates, and endure 8 years of only offering 1-stop connection itineraries for originating and terminating passengers into Dallas until October 2014.
Not that I believe Southwest made the wrong choice; in fact, I lauded this decision and was happy with the outcome. However, I don't think it's fair for Southwest to suddenly cry that its facing a new set of disadvantages just because the competitive landscape in its hometown city have altered dramatically since 2006. Just because Virgin America is a small and easy target, and because Southwest has political wherewithal to hire consultants and lawyers to spin the story in their favor, doesn't rectify anything.
Truth be told, Southwest is saddled by higher costs these days and its competitors have cleaned out their balance sheets via Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its once lethargic, stagnant 800-lb gorilla across town, American Airlines, has re-emerged as a leaner foe across town, and its merger with US Airways, if executed seamlessly, will become a formidable industry giant that will be a tough force for even the likes of Delta, which has had its act together for years, to reckon with.
Speaking of Delta, cue another irony factor: the perpetrator in this whole mess who tipped over the dominoes in 2005 when it pulled its DFW hub, edging Southwest to fight to repeal the Wright Amendment and expand options for local travelers. Now, suddenly, Delta wants to flirt with Dallas again, and this time, park itself on Southwests' own turf at Love Field. Two more gates are available at Dallas Love, and Southwest wants everything for itself?
http://upgrd.com/aerospace/virgin-america-wins-dallas-love-field-gates-announces-major-sales.html
