American on Thursday began operating four daily flights between Lambert Field and Love Field in Dallas, the home turf of arch-nemesis Southwest Airlines.However, demand for American's Love-Lambert flights has not matched the "rousing" start claimed by Southwest.
"Demand for the Love Field flights has not been great," said Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, managing director of American's St. Louis operations. "There's limited connections at Love. People don't go to Dallas to see Dallas, but to connect to other flights."
She spoke on the eve of the first Lambert-Love flights.
American would rather keep its near monopoly on the Dallas-St. Louis route by flying exclusively from its huge hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
However, Congress undermined that strategy last year when it exempted Missouri from a federal law that bars Southwest from operating nonstop flights to most U.S. metro airports from Love.
American fought the exemption and lost in a bitter public-relations war with Southwest. American is offering Love-Lambert flights because it doesn't want to cede market share to Southwest.
"We can't lose market share because we don't fly there," Hamm-Niebruegge said Wednesday.
Southwest began flying be-tween Love and Lambert in December. The competition has cut ticket prices on that route significantly, as both airlines offer incentives to lure passengers."We're very pleased with the response," said Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart. "It's gotten off to a rousing start."
He said it is company policy not to disclose what percentage of the seats on the Lambert-Love flights has been sold.
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