Delta Air Lines to add five daily flights between Dallas Love Field and Atlanta

July 10--As Southwest Airlines finalized a deal Monday to sublease its Boeing 717 fleet to Delta Air Lines, Delta unveiled plans to beef up service at Southwest's home airport.

Starting Sept. 5, Delta will launch five-times-a-day service between Dallas Love Field and Atlanta using 50-seat regional jets. The smaller jets will allow Delta to comply with restrictions laid out in the Wright Amendment, which limits direct flights from Love Field to nearby states except on planes with fewer than 56 seats. The Wright Amendment is scheduled to be phased out in 2014.

"For our customers in Dallas who prefer to fly from Love Field, this gives them a nonstop flight to Atlanta and from there they can access our hub," said Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter. "We feel like it is a real enhancement over our [existing] service at Love Field."

Delta now flies two flights a day to Memphis from Love Field. It will discontinue those flights when it starts the new service to Atlanta. Banstetter added that the new Love Field flights will not affect Delta's service at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, where it runs about 40 daily flights to eight cities, including Atlanta.

Southwest and Delta previously announced the deal for Southwest's 717 fleet, obtained in its acquisition of AirTran Airways. Dallas-based Southwest will transition about three 717s per month to Delta beginning in August 2013 until it has transferred all 88 planes.

"Replacing 717 flying with 737s is expected to significantly benefit our financial results once the transition is complete, and better supports our strategic and financial goals," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in a statement.

Southwest said it expects that the integration costs of its merger with AirTran will increase about $50 million as a result of the deal. After all of the 717s are transitioned to Delta, Southwest expects a $200 million benefit to its annual pre-tax results.

Delta said it will use the 717s to replace 50-seat regional jets, which are less profitable because of higher oil prices. The 717s will have 110 seats, including 12 in first class and 15 "economy comfort" class. The airline said it will upgrade the interiors and provide Wi-Fi on each plane.

"Adding the Boeing 717 to our fleet will give customers, particularly business travelers, more mainline aircraft service that features their preferred amenities," Delta CEO Richard Anderson said in a statement. "The 717s also provide Delta with a significant improvement in economic efficiency relative to the aircraft they are replacing."

This year, Southwest launched service in Atlanta, Delta's headquarters and primary hub, with 15 daily flights to five cities, since expanded to 24. Its AirTran subsidiary also operates a full schedule out of Atlanta.

Separately, Southwest announced that its passenger traffic in June was flat compared with a year earlier as it cut capacity by 0.7 percent.

Planes were fuller, though; Southwest said its load factor grew 0.5 percentage points to 84.4 percent for June 2012. The company estimates that passenger revenue per available seat-mile increased 6 percent from June 2011.

Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631

Twitter: @Sky_Talk

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