dfwdal

Based on this Wright amendment compromise, I'd bet that it soon will be cheaper to fly between DFW and STL:

Congress to exempt Missouri from Love Field limits
Thu Nov 10, 2005 08:31 PM ET
WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators agreed on Thursday to exempt Missouri from restrictions on direct air service from Dallas Love Field to several states, an issue that has Texas rivals' Southwest Airlines (LUV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and American Airlines (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) locked in a bitter fight.

House-Senate lawmakers hammering out details of a spending bill for transportation and treasury programs agreed to the Missouri exemption to a 26-year-old law called the Wright Amendment.

The exemption was sponsored by Sen. Christopher Bond, a Missouri Republican. Congress has approved similar waivers for other states in the past.

Budget powerhouse Southwest wants the Wright Amendment repealed to broaden service, while its Texas rival No. 1 American Airlines (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is fighting to keep it in place to preserve its customer base and huge investment at nearby Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

"In this case the dominant player (American) is being protected from the little guy," Bond told a Senate hearing on the matter earlier in the day.

Executives from both carriers appealed to Senate lawmakers but there appears little appetite for congressional intervention this year on the question of repeal even though a proposal to do so has some powerful sponsors, some senators indicated.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, suggested the matter be settled by the airlines and local officials, rather than through federal legislation.

"This puts Congress in a very bad situation," Hutchison said.

Pushed through in 1979 by then House of Representatives majority leader, Texas Democrat Jim Wright, the law restricts direct service from Love Field to other cities in Texas and several nearby states. It was intended to boost the prospects for then fledgling DFW.

American's chief executive Gerard Arpey told the Senate Commerce subcommittee on aviation that he would have to scale back operations at DFW and shift some service to much smaller Love Field, if the law were repealed.

Southwest founder and chairman Herb Kelleher said lifting the statute was would open Love Field -- and Dallas -- to more competition.

"DFW has gotten so big I'm surprised its not been implicated in a steroid scandal," Kelleher joked at the hearing.

But Arpey said Southwest has thrived for 30 years and expressed frustration with its sudden demand to repeal the law that he claims would be a windfall for Southwest because Love Field is closer to downtown Dallas than DFW.

"This is eating up time, money and energy we would like to devote to running our business," Arpey said.


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