D/FW Proposes a Truce

April 10, 2006

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport administrators have proposed a truce that could end the fight over the Wright amendment and allow Dallas Love Field to serve long-haul routes.

In a report circulated this week, D/FW recommended creating a regional airport authority and slashing the number of gates at Love Field as conditions to lifting the 1979 federal law.

If those two objectives are reached, the administrators wrote in a March 7 report, then D/FW would back a phase-out of flight restrictions at Love over a "designated and agreed upon period of time."

It's unclear whether the D/FW proposal will gain traction, and officials from the cities and the airlines involved in the fight all indicated a regional airport authority and Wright should be considered separately.

Still, the recommendations represent a dramatic turn for D/FW, one of the most vocal opponents of a campaign to repeal the Wright law, which limits commercial service from the airport to Texas and eight other states.

Southwest Airlines ignited the Wright repeal campaign in November 2004.

DMN

UNDER THE PROPOSAL ...

Love Field, which now has 32 gates, would have as few as 18 gates. Such a reduction could force Southwest to give up some of its terminal space, creating a mad scramble for territory at the facility.

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