Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has rolled out the second phase of its advertising campaign to persuade Southwest Airlines to begin long-haul service there.
The ads, which include radio and TV spots as well as billboards, began airing this week. Airport officials are spending $900,000 on this phase of the campaign, which follows a run of print advertisements.
The ads were developed by Moroch Advertising in Dallas and by D/FW staff members. They feature airport employees inviting Southwest, which operates from Dallas Love Field, to serve the larger airport, and they point out that moving long-haul flights to D/FW wouldn't require a change in the law.
They also note that Southwest serves other large airports, like ones in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
"We're hoping to address a lot of the misperceptions that are out there," said Joe Lopano, D/FW's executive vice president of marketing and revenue management.
D/FW officials hope the ads take some steam out of Southwest's drive to repeal the Wright Amendment. That law restricts service at Love to states that border Texas and to Kansas, Alabama and Mississippi.
"Nobody loves Southwest Airlines more than the men and women of D/FW," one ground worker says in an ad.
Southwest executives have repeatedly said that the airline won't fly at D/FW. But Lopano said he remained hopeful that they might change their minds.
Southwest has been running its own ads in favor of repealing the law. And Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which supports keeping the restrictions, is mulling an ad campaign.
