Summary
- The Wright Amendment, which limited air traffic out of Dallas Love Field, significantly hindered Southwest Airlines' growth before it was repealed in 2014.
- Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) was given preference over Love Field due to concerns about the new airport losing popularity and creating issues.
- Southwest Airlines fought legal battles to maintain its operations at Love Field, and now holds over a 90% market share of passenger traffic at the airport.
The Wright Amendment was one of the most significant air travel laws on the books in the 21st century. The Wright Amendment governed air traffic in the Dallas-area and gave preference to the larger Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) over Dallas Love Field (DAL), which was restricted from having full-size airliners. This hampered Southwest Airlines' growth from Dallas Love Field quite significantly before it was repealed, finally, in 2014.
The origins of the Wright Amendment
Back in the 1960s, Dallas was mainly served by Love Field. However, the footprint of the airport limited potential for future growth. This led to the creation of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (and the demolition of the Greater Southwest International Airport). The plan was to move existing carriers at Love Field to the new airport and reduce commercial service at Love Field.
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However, Southwest Airlines was founded with intentions to operate out of Love Field. Its business model, emphasizing convenience, was to be hindered if it moved to DFW, which was located farther away from Dallas. The airline received necessary permissions to fly out of the field. However, lawsuits started in an attempt to get Southwest to move. Those lawsuits proved unsuccessful, and Southwest won the right to fly in and out of Love Field.
This site is geographically closer to Dallas. Officials were concerned about flights at Love Field becoming more popular than the expensive Dallas/Fort Worth International and creating headaches for the new airport.
So, after the airline industry was deregulated in 1978, Texas representatives in the United States Congress pushed forward an amendment in 1980 to limit air traffic out of Love Field. This was known as the Wright Amendment.
What did the Wright Amendment say?
The Wright Amendment limited interstate air travel from Love Field. Passenger service operated onboard larger mainline jet aircraft could be provided only to airports in Texas and its four neighboring US states, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, This severely limited growth out of the airport.
In addition, airlines could not sell connections out of Dallas with a stop in one of the neighboring states. So, for example, Southwest could not sell a flight from Dallas to Oklahoma City to Chicago. However, a passenger could purchase one ticket from Dallas to Oklahoma City and another ticket from Oklahoma City to Chicago on their own.
Airlines could not market the aforementioned options. However, passengers were free to book the options themselves. It would, unfortunately, offer some hassles.
Growing unease in Dallas
As Dallas/Fort Worth International continued to grow, thanks in part to the strong American Airlines hub, Dallas-Love faced additional restrictions. However, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Dallas was a continued growing city, and strong concerns about limited airline competition out of Dallas led to sharp criticism of the Wright Amendment.
The original Wright Amendment allowed for 56-seat passenger flights to destinations outside of Texas and the four neighboring states. Few airlines took advantage of this. There was the short-lived Legend Airlines, which used all-first 56-seater jets to fly to points around the United States.
American Airlines, sensing some competition, even got in on the market per a report from News On 6. Using 56-seat Fokker 100s in an all-first configuration, the airline flew to Los Angeles and Chicago. Legend had flights to Washington, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.
In 2004, Delta's hub at DFW was significantly cut down, leaving American Airlines as the primary carrier in and out of Dallas, limiting competition. So, Southwest started a major push to repeal the Wright Amendment. In 2005, Missouri was added to the list of states allowing service out of Love Field.
The repeal of the Wright Amendment
By 2006, however, a repeal of the amendment was on the table. A compromise was struck that would see the full repeal of the amendment in 2014. This would allow any air carrier at Love Field to fly to points within the United States.
However, to keep American's dominance in the Dallas-area, Love Field was reduced to a maximum capacity of 20 gates. This severely limits the number of airlines that can fly into and out of Dallas-Love. Currently, only Southwest, Delta, and Alaska fly out of Love Field. Alaska inherited its Love Field operations after a merger with Virgin America, and flies to Seattle and San Francisco. Delta, meanwhile, flies out to Atlanta and other two destinations from Love Field. Nonetheless, Southwest remains as the main operator out of Dallas-Love.
Since the repeal of the Wright Amendment, Southwest had added a host of new flights out of the airport, giving the carrier an extensive base out of the airport. As of August 2023, Southwest operates 1,398 weekly flights from Dallas Love, serving 66 destinations across the United States. Houston, Denver, and Las Vegas, are Southwest top destinations from DAL.
However, Dallas Love is only open for nonstop domestic flights. International flights can be sold through connections. The airport is still not equipped to handle large aircraft. Southwest only flies Boeing 737s and 737 MAXs; Delta flies A319s and A320s; and Alaska Airlines uses Boeing 737-800s, 737-900s, and MAX 9s.
The post-repeal landscape
Post-repeal, Southwest maintains the lion's share of passenger traffic. Data from the Dallas Love Field authorities shows that Southwest has over a 90% share of passengers. This is followed by Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines, with market shares of 3.57% and 1.58%, respectively. So far in 2023, the airport received 5.07 million passengers until July. Southwest had 4.90 million passengers, while Delta had 112,270 and Alaska Airlines 60,771.
For the full year 2022, Dallas Love Field received eight million passengers; Southwest closed the year with a 96.98% market share, and 7.73 million passengers. Delta carried 164,983 with a 1.77% share; Alaska had 94,203 passengers and 1.25%, and Skywest Airlines had 7,177 passengers.
Even in recent years, Love Field has not been without its conflict. Delta and Southwest have gotten in legal battles over gate space at the airport. Delta remains interested in continuing to serve the airport while Southwest would rather add on more of its flights. In the court system, Delta has found some victories. Although, its Love Field operations remain restricted to flights to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. In February 2023, Delta announced new twice-daily flights from Dallas Love Field to Los Angeles and LaGuardia.
As air travel becomes more competitive and DFW continues to fill up, there will likely be some push to allow Love Field to open up for more flights. While this would be met with some resistance, it is not impossible to envision Dallas opening up additional gate space out of Love Field.
Do you think Love Field should be expanded? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: News On 6.