HERE IS WHY - SANS WRIGHT - LOVE WILL BE THE REGIONAL AIRPORT

Geepers. No wonder Southwest Airlines wants to fly from Love Field. According to KTVT Ch 11 Love Field charges planes 35-cent per 1000 pounds to land at Love. DFW charges $5. That is almost a 15 to 1 cost advantage. The wonder isn't that Southwest wants to fly everywhere from Love the wonder is that anyone wants to fly from DFW. Of course this rate is costing City of Dallas taxpayers more than $1 million per year. This, according to Ch 11, to the surprise and utter consternation of the Mayor and Council.

Clearly, Love won't have to increase fees 15x to make up a million bucks but according to Ch 11 Love is negotiating with Southwest and Continental to increase fees.

The difference, of course, isn't because Love is a masterfully managed airport and DFW a management disaster (indeed, the million dollar loss might indicate the opposite). The reason is because DFW has invested in the runways, terminals and people movers needed to run a massive international airport and Love is a small operation with limited operations.

But it does make clear why Southwest wants to fly from Southwest not DFW. It also makes clear why every airlines at DFW other than AA will want to move to Love if the Wright Amendment is ever lifted. It also makes clear why AA will be willing to shift scores, maybe hundreds, of flights to Love from DFW. In other words why lifting Wright will make Love not DFW the regional airport. And DFW will simply have to raise it landing fees ever higher to cover fixed costs to make up for the loss of revenue to Love. At some point American will have to take a look at St. Louis or other cities as a main hub. Costs will force it.

Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 at 02:54PM

DID SOUTHWEST SCREW UP IN DENVER - OR FIB ABOUT DFW?

According to the Wall Street Journal today Southwest may be in some trouble in Denver. Landing fees at Denver's Stapleton Airport are almost twice as expensive as those at DFW Airport. Ah, but Southwest cannot possibly compete from DFW because it doesn't fit its business mode. Either Southwest cannot profitably compete at Denver or it CAN profitably compete at DFW. This isn't about competition it is about competitive advantage. Southwest will have an advantage at Love just as American would have an advantage at DFW. In other words Southwest is all for competition as long as it is on its' terms. Fair enough. But we don't have to create problems for our regional airport, the neighbors to Love and a host of others just to give Southwest a field tilted in their favor. They can fly from DFW and North Texas gets all those low fares they tout and no one gets hurt.

Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 at 08:50PM