From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Posted on Sun, Apr. 16, 2006
Legislation affects cities across U.S.
By DAVID WETHE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Excerpts:
- Jeff Fegan made a personal appeal to his counterpart at Tampa International Airport on behalf of the Wright Amendment.
- In a Dec. 9, 2004, letter, the chief executive of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport implored Louis Miller to stay out of the Wright fight, calling it a local issue that leaders in North Texas need to resolve.
- "As I would never seek to alter how your airport is operated or managed," Fegan wrote, "I respectfully ask that you resist any efforts to involve your airport in the repeal of the Wright Amendment."
- But after careful consideration, Miller disagreed.
- Last year, the executive director of Florida's Tampa International wrote a letter to members of that state's congressional delegation, urging them to support efforts to repeal the Wright Amendment to bring down airfares between the Sunshine State and Dallas.
- "It's a local issue for us too," Miller said. "Airfares in this community are local issues. Not only airfares, but air service."
- Miller is not alone. Increasingly across the country, legislators and community leaders are staking out positions on the Wright Amendment as they decide how the law that restricts long-haul flights out of Dallas Love Field affects their communities.
- Almost 50 U.S. representatives and senators have signed on as co-sponsors for a pair of laws that would repeal the Wright Amendment. Groups from Los Angeles and Las Vegas to Tampa and Washington, D.C., are offering more than just a passive argument for repealing the 1979 law.
- They range from convention and visitors bureaus and chambers of commerce to airports and charities, and they're giving real-world examples of inconvenient schedules and high fares they say are caused by the law.
- The Wright Amendment limits nonstop flights from Love Field to cities in Texas and eight nearby states. The law came under attack in November 2004, when Dallas-based Southwest Airlines began pushing to lift the restrictions at its home airport. The discount airline argues that the law is archaic and limits competition for cheaper travel.
- Fort Worth-based American Airlines has been fighting to keep the law intact. The carrier says the federal mandate began as a compromise to Southwest's wishes to fly across the country from Love Field. It was put in place to protect what American and others call the "economic engine" of North Texas -- D/FW Airport.
- American has warned that it may reduce service to some smaller communities if the Wright Amendment goes away and it beefs up operations at Love Field. And some small cities in unlikely places are actively taking a pro-Wright stance.
- The chamber of commerce in Rochester, Minn., passed a resolution in September saying that the Wright Amendment should stay as long as Love Field is open to air service.
- The group is concerned that the number of flights to Mathis Field in Rochester would be reduced as airlines redirect planes to Love Field, and therefore grants from the Federal Airport Improvement Program would diminish.
- The city of Moline, Ill., issued a similar resolution March 7, citing the concern over reduced flights and federal funding at the Quad City International Airport.
- The mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth have asked Congress to postpone changes to the federal law until at least June 15 so local leaders can craft a solution to what they call a local problem.
- But Miller and others say the Wright Amendment is affecting people far beyond the Texas border.
- "It's a local issue in Tampa," Miller said.
- "We just hope we can get air service as competitive as possible. That's just the way it is in Florida."
- Indeed, competition has flourished throughout southern Florida.
- The average one-way fare out of Tampa for 12 months ending June 2004 was $112.11, ranking Tampa International the country's third cheapest among large hub airports, according to the letter Miller sent to the Florida congressional delegation late last year. At the same time, D/FW ranked 29th with an average fare of $169.08.
- Average fares at both airports have risen since then, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Transportation Department.
- Tampa was up to $127.31, and D/FW was up to $177.79 for the 12 months ending in September.
- Three other Florida airports -- Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Miami -- were among the 15 cheapest for airfares, according to Miller's letter.
- Many communities across the country have the Campbell-Hill Aviation Group to thank for being able to cite specific numbers that help their case for doing away with the Wright Amendment.
- The Alexandria, Va.-based aviation consulting group released a study commissioned by Southwest Airlines in June. It listed 15 cities that could see lower fares if Southwest could fly there nonstop from Love Field.
- Mark Schweiker, president and chief executive of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, proudly promotes his city's projected savings if the law is repealed.
- He says they're so fantastic, they're "hold onto your hat" kind of numbers.
- Average one-way fares from Philadelphia to the Metroplex would drop 44 percent, from $257 to $145, according to the Campbell-Hill study. The number of passengers is projected to more than double from 361,000 to 725,000 a year on that route.
- Those numbers are what Charles Isdell, director of aviation at Philadelphia International Airport, used to sway Schweiker to fight the Wright Amendment in a June 27, 2005, letter.
- Less than a month later, Schweiker used those same projections to elicit support from legislators in southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware -- all areas served by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber.
- Three representatives from Pennsylvania are co-sponsors of an anti-Wright bill introduced by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Plano.
- While chambers of commerce are out seeking support from Congress, their member businesses have stayed relatively quiet.
- Despite operating a headquarters in Nashville and a 1,511-room hotel in Grapevine, Gaylord Entertainment has said it doesn't have a position on the Wright Amendment.
- HCA Healthcare, which is also based in Nashville and has 12 medical facilities in North Texas, is not pushing for more nonstop flights to Dallas.
- "I haven't heard it discussed around here much," said Jeff Prescott, a spokesman for HCA. "It probably would be a little more convenient, but it's not a big deal. ... The quantity of travel is such that the magnitude is not that great."
- Other groups citing the Campbell-Hill study and the potential economic benefit of a Wright repeal are the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
- Las Vegas is "very interested" in overturning the law, not just for the obvious ef- fect on its casino industry, but also because of the benefit to business travel, said Cara Roberts, chamber spokeswoman.
- "A lot of people view Las Vegas as a tourism capital, but we're also one of the fastest-growing cities for small business," she said. "This law creates a barrier that makes it more difficult for businesses in Dallas-Fort Worth to be able to take advantage of that. In a way I think they're penalized."
- Charities are even getting in on the action.
- Susan Maxwell, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Southwest, voiced her group's frustration with the Wright Amendment in a July 2005 letter to Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock.
- She wrote about a circuitous business trip taken by several staff and board members of the Ronald McDonald House. Going from Lubbock to Chicago, the group had to go through Dallas and Houston. On the return trip, the travelers again made two stops, in Albuquerque and El Paso.
- "If the Wright Amendment were not in place, one connection in Dallas would most likely have been the only plane change needed," she wrote. She added that repealing the law "would be beneficial to business in Lubbock."
- The National Black Chamber of Commerce, based in Washington D.C., holds its national meetings in Houston rather than in the Metroplex because of the difficulty finding low fares into the Metroplex, said Harry Alford, the group's president.
- The group wants a full repeal of the Wright Amendment. That position flies in the face of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce and the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, which both support keeping the amendment.
- But that doesn't matter to Alford.
- "We won't hold a meeting in Dallas because we can't get to Dallas in an efficient, economical manner," Alford said.
- The two local groups are not affiliated with the national organization, which has Metroplex chapters in Arlington and Plano.
- The National Black Chamber holds three board meetings and a convention every year in various cities throughout the country.
- He said he thinks the Wright Amendment is hurting tourism in Dallas.
- Alford, like Miller of the Tampa Airport, believes that the Wright Amendment affects him just as much as anyone in North Texas.
- "That's ridiculous that it's a local problem," Alford said. "This is screwing up the whole country. I'd say it's a pimple on the nation, and I think we need to pop it."