Wright Amendment

From Freepedia

The Wright Amendment of 1979, was a federal law which originally limited traffic from Dallas's Love Field airport to points within Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. In 1997, the Shelby Amendment modified the law to allow flights to the states of Alabama, Kansas, and Mississippi.

Contents

Background

In the early 1960s, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) determined that Love Field in Dallas and Greater Southwest International Airport in Fort Worth, Texas were unsuitable for expected future air traffic demands, and the FAA refused to provide continued federal funding for the municipal airports. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) then ordered the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth to find a new site for a joint regional airport. The result was Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW International), which first opened to air traffic in 1973. To make the new airport viable, each city agreed to decommission its own passenger-service airports, and all airlines serving the old airports agreed to relocate. However, Dallas' Love Field was a busier airport than Fort Worth's and in a more desirable location, and so several entrepreneurs saw opportunities for keeping it open, most notably Southwest Airlines.

Southwest Airlines, founded in 1971 and headquartered at Love Field, built its business on selling quick, no-frills trips between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Southwest, which was founded after the agreement between the airlines and cities to relocate to DFW International was reached, was not a party to the agreement, and felt that their business model would be affected by a long drive to the new airport beyond the suburbs. Therefore, prior to the opening of DFW International, Southwest filed suit to keep Love Field open. In 1973, the courts allowed Southwest to continue operating intrastate service out of Love Field, thus saving the airport from decommissioning. DFW International Airport, fearing that other airlines would also operate out of Love Field and undermine the viability of the fledgling airport, stipulated that no airline could operate at the new airport if it continued to operate any flights out of Love Field.

When DFW International opened in 1974, every airline, except Southwest, moved to the new, larger airport. Southwest, however, decided to remain at the older airport with its location within the city limits of Dallas. With the drastic reduction in flights, Love Field had to decommission several of its terminals. Subsequently, after DFW International established itself, the prohibition preventing airlines from operating at both airports was lifted, which prompted some airlines to return to Love Field. This, coupled with Southwest's expansion, have seen a resurgence of passenger traffic at Love Field.

Passage of the Wright Amendment

After the deregulation of the U.S. airline industry in 1978, Southwest Airlines entered the larger passenger market with plans to start providing interstate service in 1979. This angered the City of Fort Worth, DFW International Airport, American Airlines and Braniff International Airways which resented expanded air service at the airport within Dallas. To help protect DFW International Airport, Jim Wright, a Fort Worth congressman, sponsored and helped pass a law in Congress which restricted passenger air traffic out of Love Field in the following ways:

  • Passenger service on regular mid-sized and large aircraft could only be provided from Love Field to locations within Texas and the four neighboring states (Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico). At the time, all of Southwest's destinations were included within this zone, hence the law had no immediate effect on Southwest's operations.
  • Long-haul service to other states was possible, but only on commuter aircraft with no more capacity than 56 passengers.

While the law deterred other major airlines from starting service out of Love Field, Southwest continued to expand as it used multiple short-haul flights to build its Love Field operation. Some people have managed to "work the system" and get around the Wright Amendment's restrictions. For example, a person could fly from Dallas to Houston or New Orleans, change planes, and then fly to any city Southwest served — although he or she had to do so on two tickets in each direction, as the Wright Amendment specifically bars airlines from issuing tickets that violate the law's provisions. This had the effect of creating mini-hubs at Houston/Hobby Airport and the New Orleans Airport.

Repeal efforts

In late 2004, Southwest Airlines announced its opposition to the Wright Amendment. Shortly thereafter, the company began trying to garner public support for the repeal of the Wright Amendment by launching a massive public relations campaign. Print media, the internet, billboards, and TV spots were all used, directing the viewer or reader to visit the Set Love Free website, created by Southwest Airlines. In response, a group opposed to the repeal of the amendment, including the DFW Airport Board and American Airlines, launched their own media campaign directing visitors to their Keep DFW Strong site.

Critics of the amendment feel that it is anti-competitive. They ask for the "freedom to fly" from Love Field to any destination. They also argue that it artifically inflates fares at the DFW Airport. They believe that eliminating the amendment, and thus allowing any airline to fly long-haul service out of DAL, a so-called "Southwest Effect" will occur, where new, inexpensive capacity will increase traffic at both airports (assuming that low fares on flights at Love field drive down fares on corresponding routes at DFW). They also argue that DFW's main tenant, American Airlines, can charge high prices out of DFW because there is supposedly little competition on many routes (a viewpoint they claimed was strengthened by the recent closure of Delta Air Lines' DFW hub).

Supporters of the amendment say that DFW Airport is the economic engine of the metroplex area, and do not wish for a competing airport to either take traffic from DFW or drive the prices down there. They concede that American's fares are sometimes higher than from other airports, but they insist that they are only charging what the market will bear. They also point out that the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth jointly built the DFW airport and it would be disadvantageous to Fort Worth residents if traffic were moved away from an airport that they helped pay for, to an airport that would benefit residents of Dallas more than those of Fort Worth.

Text of Amendment

The original text of the Wright Amendment (from International Air Transportation Competition Act):

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c), notwithstanding any other provision of law, neither the Secretary of Transportation, the Civil Aeronautics Board, nor any other officer or employee of the United States shall issue, reissue, amend, revise, or otherwise modify (either by action or inaction) any certificate or other authority to permit or otherwise authorize any person to provide the transportation of individuals, by air, as a common carrier for compensation or hire between Love Field, Texas, and one or more points outside the State of Texas, except (1) charter air transportation not to exceed ten flights per month, and (2) air transportation provided by commuter airlines operating aircraft with a passenger capacity of 56 passengers or less.
(b) Except as provided in subsections (a) and (c), notwithstanding any other provision of law, or any certificate or other authority heretofore or hereafter issued thereunder, no person shall provide or offer to provide the transportation of individuals, by air, for compensation or hire as a common carrier between Love Field, Texas, and one or more points outside the State of Texas, except that a person providing service to a point outside of Texas from Love Field on November 1, 1979 may continue to provide service to such point.
(c) Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply with respect to, and it is found consistent with the public convenience and necessity to authorize, transportation of individuals, by air, on a flight between Love Field, Texas, and one or more points within the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas by an air carrier, if (1) such air carrier does not offer or provide any through service or ticketing with another air carrier or foreign air carrier, and (2) such air carrier does not offer for sale transportation to or from, and the flight or aircraft does not serve, any point which is outside any such State. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to give authority not otherwise provided by law to the Secretary of Transportation, the Civil Aeronautics Board, any other officer or employee of the United States, or any other person.
(d) This section shall not take effect if enacted after the enactment of the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979.

External links

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