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Battle at Love Field

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Times Staff Writers

As a sales executive for a San Diego software firm, Gary Sabin hops aboard a Southwest Airlines jet several times a month to visit clients. But when he wants to fly the discount carrier nonstop to Dallas, he’s out of luck.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Sabin, 46, who laments that he has to fly to Dallas regularly “but can’t on Southwest.”

Instead, he pays more to take a full-service airline nonstop rather than taking Southwest and facing the hassle of connecting through another city such as Albuquerque or Houston.

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It’s a problem familiar to many who have tried to fly Southwest direct to Dallas. But it’s not just some convoluted airline route logic. It’s the law.

An arcane 1979 federal statute bars nonstop flights out of Southwest’s home base at Dallas’ Love Field unless they are bound to or from cities in Texas or one of seven nearby states. Fliers who want to avoid connection aggravations must use the larger -- and more remote -- Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where American Airlines dominates.

But the days of the so-called Wright Amendment may be numbered. Southwest, which stayed on the sidelines during past efforts to repeal the law, is now energetically spearheading the latest attempt in Congress to kill it. In the process, it has sparked a Texas-sized brawl with American Airlines, which is trying to block Southwest’s effort and protect its Dallas-area franchise.

And what might seem a parochial spat could have implications far beyond North Texas -- including in California, where Southwest is the largest airline, with 630 daily flights from eight cities. None of those flights goes to Love Field or can connect to other cities through Dallas.

But that’s likely to change if the Wright Amendment is repealed.

Southwest Chairman Herb Kelleher, in a news conference last month, declined to identify which markets the airline would begin serving from Love Field if the law were repealed. But he left little doubt that California cities would be among the first added.

“Southwest is the largest carrier in Florida and California, and it can’t fly to either state from Love Field,” he said. If the law is repealed, “fares would go down and the number of travelers would increase.”

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In particular, opening up Love Field would mean more options for West Coast travelers who would be willing to connect through Dallas to take advantage of Southwest’s discount fares, especially to destinations in Florida -- such as Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach -- and other Southeastern states, said Beth Harbin, a spokeswoman for the airline.

Because of its low fares, Southwest claims that lifting restrictions at Love would save travelers more than $700 million a year on flights to and from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including $36 million in savings in the Los Angeles area alone.

Rival American Airlines, the nation’s biggest carrier, disputes those claims, noting that airfares have been falling at Dallas-Fort Worth International in recent years and that Southwest’s study failed to examine how it would affect fares at that airport if it moved there from Love.

But the airline has a history of pushing down fares wherever it launches service, a phenomenon known in the industry as the “Southwest effect.” Steven Morrison, an economics professor at Northeastern University, says that when Southwest begins service on a particular route, rival carriers can be forced to cut their fares by as much as 50% to compete -- bad news in an industry in which older carriers already are being squeezed by rising fuel costs and falling fares.

Southwest’s reputation as a low-fare carrier holds an undeniable appeal for travelers such as Darren Flynt of Glendora, who was waiting with his wife last week at Los Angeles International Airport for an American flight to Dallas.

“It would make it a lot easier” if the law were repealed, said Flynt, 29. “I don’t know the specifics, but I knew there were restrictions. I’ve even tried to fly [Southwest] from Ontario to Love Field,” only to find there were no flights.

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The battle over the Love Field restrictions goes back to the mid-1970s, when Dallas-Forth Worth International opened about midway between its namesake cities on what was then largely open prairie. With the backing of local leaders, American and most other airlines moved their operations and passengers to Dallas-Forth Worth from Love Field, located a few miles north of downtown Dallas. But Southwest stayed put.

Southwest then was a small, regional airline, known for dressing its flight attendants in hot pants and serving as a kind of aerial bus service for Texans traveling around their expansive state. But after the airline industry was deregulated in 1978, Southwest began making plans to expand its reach well beyond the Lone Star State with more flights from Love Field.

After years of fighting Southwest in court, the Dallas-Fort Worth International lobby persuaded former Fort Worth congressman and House Speaker Jim Wright to sponsor the amendment that blocked Southwest from flying beyond the four states that border Texas -- New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana -- from Love Field. A 1997 revision expanded the law to include Kansas, Alabama and Mississippi.

To discourage Dallas-area residents from flouting the law by surreptitiously booking connecting flights beyond the so-called Wright Amendment bubble, the airline adopted its own restrictions to make it harder to perform a maneuver that locals took to calling the “Southwest shuffle.”

For example, the airline’s Love Field flight schedules don’t list connecting flights beyond the bubble. Passengers who fly Southwest from Dallas to cities beyond the bubble have to buy separate tickets for each leg of the trip and must claim and then recheck their baggage at the connecting airport. In addition, the airline maintains a time lag of at least 45 minutes between potential “connecting” flights.

Despite such constraints, Southwest grew rapidly over the next quarter century, becoming one of the most prosperous airlines in the business even as it kept a neutral stance toward the Wright Amendment.

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But now, with Southwest and other discount airlines commanding an ever-growing share of airline travel nationwide, Southwest believes that it has the economic and political muscle to get the law thrown out.

It faces plenty of opposition.

American contends that Dallas-Fort Worth and the North Texas area face disastrous economic damage if Southwest is free to fly anywhere from Love Field.

By seeking repeal, Southwest is trying to exploit its dominance of Love Field “after we, the community and others have continued to invest billions of dollars” at Dallas-Fort Worth, Gerard Arpey, chief executive of American and parent AMR Corp. told an investor conference this month.

The simple solution, he said, is for Southwest to shift all or part of its Dallas operations to Dallas-Fort Worth.

“They can start service tomorrow,” Arpey said. Otherwise, “we will do everything we can to defeat” the law’s repeal.

Besides American, Dallas-Fort Worth is pressuring Southwest to give up the fight and shift at least some of its service to the big airport. It has offered Southwest free rent for a year and $22 million in other incentives.

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“We urge Southwest Airlines to abandon this divisive effort,” Kevin Cox, Dallas-Fort Worth International’s chief operating officer, said in a recent statement.

But Southwest said moving any of its operations there was a nonstarter. The airline prides itself on, in most cases, avoiding the biggest, most congested airports, a strategy it claims helps keep its costs -- and fares -- low.

Splitting Southwest’s operations between two Dallas airports also would mean “breaking up our low-cost, efficient model of business,” the carrier has said.

The outcome of the fight over Love Field isn’t expected to be known for at least several months, as Southwest’s effort winds its way through Congress. A formal, one-page bill that would repeal the Wright Amendment has been introduced in the House by two Republicans from North Texas, Sam Johnson and Jeb Hensarling.

In a brief speech on the House floor last week, Johnson said the law “has outlived its usefulness.”

Southwest and American are trying to line up members of Congress to support their respective campaigns, and Southwest hopes to enlist the aid of lawmakers and airports from other states. About 20 House members have co-sponsored Southwest’s bill, but none yet from California.

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The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. has sent letters to California’s two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, asking them to support the repeal legislation. “We feel there would be significant economic benefit to the L.A. area,” said Jack Kyser, the agency’s chief economist.

The Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., which represents business interests in the San Fernando Valley, plans to send a similar letter next month.

The Wright Amendment “undermines the entire system and opens us up to the risk of having certain airports in our area come under the same kind of legislation -- and that would be catastrophic,” said Robert L. Rodine, chairman of the group’s aviation committee.

Southwest also is trying to generate grass-roots support, complete with a new website devoted to its campaign.

For some travelers, the Wright Amendment is a moot point. “I won’t fly Southwest,” said Rod Nowicki as he waited at LAX for an American flight to Dallas. The 6-foot-tall computer consultant, who flies several times a month, belongs to American’s frequent-flier club and prefers the airline’s legroom and ambience over Southwest’s.

But for fans of Southwest’s low fares and reputation for quick airport turnarounds, the prospect of repealing the Wright Amendment is heartening.

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“I’d rather fly Southwest,” said Colette Thompson, a 59-year-old retired financial manager from Dallas, who also was waiting for an American flight at LAX. “Southwest is cheaper. They’re faster with everything -- getting you in, getting you out -- everything.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Top-flight race

Southwest Airlines has grown rapidly despite not being allowed to fly nonstop from its home at Love Field in Dallas beyond seven states near Texas. Now the carrier wants that restriction lifted, but American Airlines is fighting the move.

The airlines side by side

*--* Southwest American(AMR*) Headquarters Dallas Fort Worth 2004 revenue(In billions) $6.5 $18.6 Daily flights 3,000 3,800 Cities served 60 230 Aircraft 429 1,062 Employees 31,000 98,000

*--*

*AMR includes the American Eagle regional division.

Sources: The companies

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