From the Fort Worth Star Telegram, here s the other side's point of view.
"Don't Ground Wright Amendment
By Dee Kelly
Special to the Star-Telegram
Friday, June 11, 2004
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/8897877.htm
Most people in the Metroplex thought that the long debate over Dallas Love Field and the Wright Amendment had ended. However, a Star-Telegram columnist recently opined that Fort Worth might be better off if Love Field were opened to unrestricted long-haul jet service in direct competition with Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.
The Wright Amendment generally restricts Love Field to short-haul jet service, whereas long-haul jet service traffic flies out of D/FW. According to the columnist's argument, the people of Fort Worth would save money by traveling to Dallas and riding the discount airlines.
The overriding question, of course, is what would that do to D/FW, the engine that has driven Fort Worth's economic growth for more than 25 years.
True, the Wright Amendment is old -- but people forget (or never knew) the great struggle that Fort Worth and Dallas leaders faced in trying to build D/FW. Only after much controversy did the two cities agree to end decades of rivalry and pool their resources to build the airport.
To that end, both cities agreed by ordinance to transfer to the new regional airport all air service with certification from the Civil Aeronautics Board -- now the U.S. Department of Transportation -- at Love Field and Red Bird airports in Dallas and Greater Southwest and Meacham Field in north Fort Worth. Both cities also agreed to use every legal and reasonable means to promote the development of D/FW.
When the ordinance was adopted, Southwest Airlines operated only two aircraft and lacked CAB certification. It was licensed under the authority of the now-defunct Texas Aeronautical Commission.
Southwest refused to move to D/FW, and the cities lost a 1973 lawsuit, which sought to force the airline to move, because Southwest was then an intrastate carrier not regulated by the CAB.
After the 1978 deregulation of the airline industry, the CAB authorized Southwest to implement interstate service from Love Field to New Orleans. Based on this decision, Fort Worth and Dallas tried valiantly to close Love Field to all service or to limit its service to intrastate traffic .
Thanks primarily to the efforts of U.S. Rep. Jim Wright and the dynamic new president of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher, the Wright Amendment was enacted as a congressional compromise to prevent carriers from offering interstate service on large aircraft from Love Field to points beyond Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
In 1989, groups then associated with the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce pressed for a repeal of the Wright Amendment. In 1990, the D/FW Airport board released a study by KPMG Peat Marwick warning that lifting and diluting flight restrictions at Love Field not only would slow development at D/FW but would lead to more congested skies at both airports.
The Dallas City Council reaffirmed its support of the Wright Amendment, but two years later the mayor of Dallas offered a resolution to repeal the Wright Amendment. This action precipitated a lawsuit between Fort Worth and Dallas, which resulted in Dallas' dropping its efforts to have the amendment repealed.
The tranquility was short-lived, however. In 1997, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama introduced a bill in Congress to amend the Wright Amendment to add three states (Alabama, Mississippi and Kansas) and to exempt 56-seat jets from the restrictions of the Wright Amendment.
This triggered a second lawsuit by Fort Worth, which the city eventually lost when the Department of Transportation sided with Dallas and other parties that supported the Shelby Amendment. The successful legislation was primarily designed to help new start-up Legend Airlines, which failed after a few months of operation.
Today, Southwest Airlines continues to fly out of Love Field as it has in the past, with little competition. Southwest has flourished at Love Field despite the Wright Amendment, and there has been no recent great effort, by Southwest or anyone, to repeal the amendment.
If Southwest wanted to offer unrestricted jet service, it could do so today at D/FW, just like other discount carriers, including Air Tran, Frontier and America West. Southwest simply has chosen not to do so.
From Fort Worth's perspective, there is little to be gained and much to be lost by loosening the restrictions at Love Field. Fort Worth has always been concerned that North Texas would be less attractive to business, old and new, if service at Love Field were to be increased at the expense of D/FW Airport, which still ranks among the top airports in the world based on passengers served.
Making matters worse, Dallas and Fort Worth could lose millions of dollars of their investments in building and improving D/FW. Indeed, the D/FW Airport board, with members from Dallas and Fort Worth, is in the midst of a five-year capital development project that will pump another $2.6 billion into the airport's infrastructure. D/FW needs more passengers, not fewer, to make these investments pay off.
The great leaders of the Metroplex joined together in building a magnificent regional airport to serve not only the Metroplex but the entire nation. It has been a huge success for Fort Worth and Dallas. No one can predict how badly D/FW would be affected by the repeal of the Wright Amendment. Neither city, especially Fort Worth, can afford to take that risk.
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Dee Kelly is a Fort Worth attorney who represented Fort Worth in litigation to limit flights out of Love Field."
LoneStarMike