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Love Field would shrink but Dallas travelers would eventually be able to fly from the airport near downtown to distant cities under an agreement announced Thursday by American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and the mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth.If approved by Congress, the deal could end decades of squabbling over Love Field, which escalated into an all-out lobbying and public-relations fight between Fort Worth-based American and Dallas-based Southwest.
Each airline would get something from the deal.
American, the nation's largest carrier, would win eight more years of limits on long-haul flights at Love Field, which is closer to Dallas business travelers than American's hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Love Field flights would still be limited to a nearby nine-state area during that time.
Southwest would be able for the first time to sell tickets from Dallas to distant cities called "through-ticketing" instead of forcing customers to buy two separate tickets.
Southwest also would solidify its stranglehold on Love Field, getting 16 of the 20 gates that would be left after the demolition of 12 other gates. And aging Love Field would get a new main terminal.
The deal's immediate benefits for travelers were less clear.
Southwest executives said through-ticketing would cause fares to fall, even though passengers making long trips would have to go through nearby cities such as Houston or Albuquerque, N.MBut consumers who wanted immediate repeal of the Wright Amendment, the 1979 limits that Congress imposed on Love Field, were disappointed.
"There's nothing in this for consumers," said Tony Page, a leader of a group called Friends of Love Field. "This doesn't repeal the Wright Amendment for eight years. A significant number of people in the metroplex will be dead by then."
Southwest has been pressing Congress to remove the limits at Love Field since late 2004. It won direct flights to Missouri last year, but a bill to repeal the Wright Amendment has made little headway and is opposed by several key members of the Texas delegation in Congress.
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