"Don't ground Wright Amendment"

Friday, June 11, 2004

Opinion
Don't ground Wright Amendment
By Dee Kelly
The Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram


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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