Wright Amendment - Repeal Efforts

Repeal Efforts

By the 1990s, DFW International Airport's annual air traffic had exceeded the airport's capacity. A 1996 study suggested repealing the Wright Amendment and opening Fort Worth Alliance Airport to passenger service to relieve congestion at DFW. But DFW opposed both proposals, and the end result was the Shelby Amendment which added Kansas, Mississippi, and Alabama to the Wright zone.

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, spearheaded by the DFW Airport Board and American Airlines, launched their own media campaign directing visitors to their Keep DFW Strong site (DFW Airport has even painted advertising on one of its water tanks on the north side of DFW).

Critics of the amendment assert that the restrictions on long-haul travel from Dallas Love Field are anti-competitive. They ask for the "freedom to fly" from Love Field to any destination. They also argue that the restrictions on full use of Love Field artificially 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, would allow the so-called "Southwest effect" to occur, where new, inexpensive capacity will increase traffic at both airports (assuming that the market effect of low fares on flights into and out of Love Field will serve to drive down fares on corresponding routes at DFW); these projections are based upon historic results in other air travel markets in which low-fare carriers, most frequently, Southwest, have initiated service. Wright opponents also argue that DFW's main tenant, American Airlines, can charge high prices out of DFW because, with AA controlling in excess of 80% of air carrier traffic at DFW, there is little competition on most routes, a problem which has recently been attributed to Delta Air Lines discontinuing its usage of DFW as a 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, although they do concede that American's fares are often higher than from other airports. What's more, DFW Airport recently completed construction of a $2.5-billion people mover system to transport passengers between terminal buildings. DFW Airport is concerned that the financial burdens caused by such things as the people mover project and the recent pull down of Delta Air Lines' hub will hamper airport profitability and sustainability if a direct competitor to DFW is introduced into the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. A primary concern of many in the DFW area is that American is the largest employer in the North Texas area and many people associated with DFW and American Airlines are reluctant to put any jobs at risk, especially when considering the chronic financial difficulties that modern airlines, other than Southwest, face.