Do you think DAL should be set free?
filler 
The Wright Amendment is nothing more than protectionism for American Airlines plain and simple. Why can’t AAL and SWA operate fully side-by-side in Dallas? COA and SWA operate side-by-side in HOU. UAL and SWA operate side-by-side in Chicago and San Francisco (SWA operates in OAK and SJC). If United and Continental can operate together unrestricted in the same town why can’t American in Dallas?
Why can’t American be competitive if SWA flys 180 daily departures from Love Field?
I am simply criticizing all major airlines who aren’t making money right now when I say that American (like the other majors) doesn’t do a good job running thier own business, but they’re really good at trying to run SWA’s in fear that SWA will hurt AAL. Instead of running thier own airline, they have to have government intervention to piggy back to preschool with.
Why am I so critical?
Becuase all these airlines are broke. Not becuase of a certain even that happened 5 years ago. That just made reality obvious. These companies treat their employees like crap, they treat thier customers like crap, they do silly things like schedule 80 airplanes to land at an airport with one runway within 15 minutes of each other, and then blame ATC for the delays. They need to just suck and up and go out of business. We need to stop being so scared about thier BS about how it’ll hurt the economy. They’re already hurting the economy with they’re bankrupcies and thier business habits and their guaranteed loan bailouts. If they can’t make money flying airplanes full of people around, then they should step aside and let someone new try. The jobs aren’t going away any more than they would natually with all the typical effeciency models and all that crap. Just let someone with a clue do it.
I’m really not THAT bitter. Just remember, i’d be happy to use less than standard seperation next time in leu of holding into EWR tomorrow. Oh wait…
DM
AA is actually one of the few legacy carriers that ISN’T in Chapter 11 (or recently out of it like UA). That’s not to say that you can’t be critical of them…I think the Wright Amendment is a bunch of anti-competitive (i.e. anti-AMERICAN) crap myself. The government can do all it wants to protect companies, but I don’t think it should ever come at the expense of fair competition. The bottom line is this: The LCCs like Southwest, AirTran and jetBlue are cleaning up, in the very least in the “leisure” routes like Florida, Vegas, etc. Legacies have to either adjust their fares, cut service, or reconfigure their company structures as a whole to compete. This happens in every industry on a daily basis, and the airlines, like deltamike says, have to grow up and play fair. If they want to survive, they must find a way to do it on their own. Some tax incentives may help keep debt under control for a while, but The Wright Amendment is definitely not the “Wright” answer. 
The Wright Amendment is nothing more than protectionism for American Airlines plain and simple
To be fair, the Wright Amendment started out as protectionism for DFW. It just sort of evolved into protectionism for AAL because AAL is the major carrier at DFW.
That said, I am still all for the Wright Amendement being repealed. It should have been repealed 20+ years ago (i.e. when it was enacted).
If I remember correctly, when IAH opened north of Houston, the intent was to close down HOU. There was nothing at all around Intercontinental, just as there was nothing around DFW when it first opened. Those were both ‘perfect’ locations for airports, i.e., no objections to long runways and building for major service levels, also no pre-existing residential areas. They were both ‘perfectly’ placed, except that passengers had to drive an extra hour just to get to the airport. The only difference was that IAH did not have a federal law that crushed a competing airport.
Now both IAH and HOU are evidently thriving. There is competition in Houston without involving the federal government. There’s no reason that both DFW and DAL can’t co-exist and compete in the same mode.
It makes no sense not to allow Dallas-Fort Worth residents the same type of choice (of airports, airlines, and fares) that Houston residents enjoy. Will Ft. Worth people drive past DFW to go to DAL? Only if DFW airlines refuse to offer competitive service/fares. Why should federal law be used to punish Ft. Worth residents?
The Wright shouldn’t be Wright any more.
Btw, what happened to the old Denver airport once the new DEN opened? There was never a Wright there. Some day there ought to be room for two commercial airports in Denver also.
Living in Austin, DFW is my major connection airport. Any airline is smart enough to do the math. If you have two local planeloads per day from Dallas to ??, that isn’t going to stop the eight connections to ??. The whole idea is “serve your customers”. I much rather take the direct “regional” jet out of Austin, why not let Dallas do same and keep their traffic off highway. Love being landlocked will never be a major terminal anyway.
Btw, what happened to the old Denver airport once the new DEN opened? There was never a Wright there. Some day there ought to be room for two commercial airports in Denver also.
It was bulldozed over. Short-sighted politicians again.
There are other larger airports in the area but they are general aviation.
Love being landlocked will never be a major terminal anyway.
You’re probably right about that, but is it relevant to the Wright amendment? Why shouldn’t Southwest be allowed to fly beyond the current Wright limits or, at the very least, be able to ticket passengers via connections to cities beyond the Wright limits?
There is ultimately a capacity limit at any airport, but why is Love Field subject to federal intervention that other fields aren’t? The amendment may have made sense when DFW was a new airport, but it has outlived its purpose and should be rescinded now.
There is room in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market for two thriving airports. How is Love any different from Houston’s Hobby?
(Denver’s old airport) was bulldozed over. Short-sighted politicians again.
Well, that sure solved the competition ‘problem’, didn’t it?
I think you guys have this all wrong. The Wright amendment is not protection for American Airlines. It is a government-forced non-competitive ruling that serves a very important use. It prevents all of the airlines from abandoning DFW and moving all of their operations to Love Field, where they were back in the early 1970s before DFW opened. Let’s face it, more travelers would like to fly in and out of Love than DFW, if all of the business was there. But Love cannot handle all of the traffic that exists and is needed for the DFW metroplex, thus DFW Int’l was built. But in order to convince the airlines to operate there instead of Love Field, a law was needed to ensure that the airlines would move. So they all did, quite happily. Then along comes a new airline - Southwest - who did not want to follow the rules that everyone else agreed to. They had several YEARS of lawsuits, and finally ended up with the Wright Amendment. Southwest agreed. Now, years later, they want to change what they and everyone else agreed to. That doesn’t sound too fair. In order to remain competitive in the Dallas market, AA will have to move some flights from DFW to Love, thus “splitting the hub” which results in fewer connecting opportunities, fewer flights to various cities, etc. It is a bad thing for not only the DFW market, but for hundreds of cities in the country that will not have as much service to the DFW market as they currently do.
There is one very simple solution to all of this: Southwest should move all of their flights to DFW! Their is ample gate space, the runways can handle all of the extra traffic, and the airport would love to have them. Southwest will not do this, however. Are they afraid to compete with American Airlines? So, which airline is the Wright Amendment really protecting? Southwest wants to have their cake and eat it, too. That is not fair to just about everyone.
There is one very simple solution to all of this: Southwest should move all of their flights to DFW! Their (sic) is ample gate space, the runways can handle all of the extra traffic, and the airport would love to have them. Southwest will not do this, however. Are they afraid to compete with American Airlines? So, which airline is the Wright Amendment really protecting? Southwest wants to have their cake and eat it, too. That is not fair to just about everyone.
Wrong-o! Southwest will not move to DFW because it is afraid of American. It will not move there because their on-time record would go to hell.
It’s American who should be afraid of Southwest moving to DFW. American would lose many passengers to Southwest.
Last time I checked, this was a free country with an economical-deregulated airline industry. Any airline should be able to operate from any airport without any artificial restraint placed upon it.
Reading the rest of Carlwag’s posting, it sounds like he is either an American employee or an DFW employee.
Life is not fair. In the business world, it’s the survival of the strongest.
American has no need to split its hub. It could still compete against Southwest by staying out of Love. It all boils down to marketing and leadership. Unfortunately, American, along with many other legacy carriers, is sorely lacking in the leadership department.
If Southwest moved to DFW their on-time performance would deteriorate? Is that what you said? What gives you such an idea? DFW is one of the most on-time airports in the country! Now really . . . . why won’t Southwest just move to DFW and end all of this nonsense?
If Southwest moved to DFW their on-time performance would deteriorate? Is that what you said? What gives you such an idea?
That’s what I said.
DFW ranks 17 for ontime departures, acording to a chart I found in th 2/8/06 issue of USA Today.
WN left SFO (ranked 10 last year for departures) because the bad weather caused delays that were not acceptable.
Think about it. AA pushes out dozens of flights within a relatively short period of time. While the aircraft may be technically on time (see below), they still haven’t left the ground. If you get another airline (e.g. WN) in a long line of AA aircraft, than that other airline will probably not make its destination on time.
An ontime departure is defined as departing the gate at or within 15 minutes of scheduled departure time. How many AA flights are technically ontime only because they have been backed away from the gate yet have not taken off yet?
Why are you so against a major metropolitan area having 2 airports? Many metro areas have more than 2 airports (NYC, SFO, LA for examples). This gives the consumer a choice and helps lowers fares.
DALLAS, June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV)
joined with the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, American Airlines, and DFW
International Airport today to announce all parties have agreed to seek the
enactment of legislation to repeal the Wright Amendment.
At a news conference in Dallas today, Southwest Airlines ExecutiveChairman Herb Kelleher said:
"I have been involved in litigation, legislative struggles, and cuss fights over Love Field since 1972 -- a period of 34 years. The fact that Southwest Airlines stands here today -- stands here with Fort Worth, DFW Airport, American Airlines, and the City of Dallas indicates, I believe, that there must be hope for world peace. And peace -- and good will -- is the essence of our agreement -- not to mention certainty, stability, and tranquility. Under the perseverant Leadership of the Mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth -- who have literally worked day and night to bring this "Peace Pact" into being, our swords are truly being turned into plowshares. As with any difficult and complicated transaction, all sides, all parties, have been compelled to make sacrifices -- to yield on firmly held positions -- to moan and grown and agonize over decisions and mutual concessions. The only victor -- the only sure fire winner-from this agreement -- is the public -- the public citizen who will find it easier and far less expensive to travel to and from North Texas for business and personal reasons -- the citizens who will reap vast economic benefits in their communities from enhanced travel and tourism -- at a lower cost. On behalf of the public, we stand shoulder to shoulder with American Airlines, DFW Airport, and with the Mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth, in urging the City Councils of Dallas and Fort Worth -- and in urging the U.S. Congress -- to speedily approve the implementation of our agreement. Peace -- truly enduring peace -- be with all of you -- and with all of us."
The agreement is subject to Congress taking action on the proposedlegislation.
"Today's historic agreement will benefit the public in terms of convenientconnecting service and low fares from North Texas to the rest of the vast
Southwest Airlines route network as soon as Congress acts," said Southwest CEO
Gary Kelly. “We’re trading certainty for uncertainty with this agreement, and
it will allow us to plan for the future; it will allow us to reinvest in
Dallas Love Field, our hometown airport; and it will allow us the opportunity
to grow.”
Didn’t feel like reading it…Cliff Notes please…
Cliff notes: Finally, the immoral Wright Amendment may be going the way of the dodo.
under this deal, which won’t take place until President
Bush’s pen completes his signature, still has a 8-yr
prohibition outside current Wright area. Look into the details
of the deal. It is a compromise.