The Wright Debate rages on
Well as many predicted the Wright debate isn't over yet. It was laughable to watch AA, WN, and the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth a month ago applaud their agreement. Since then other airlines have filed complaints and now the Justice Dept. says the deal is no good. I'm still amazed that a city the size of Dallas and Fort Worth can't have two airports. Hell NYC has three, LA has about four, and Chicago has two. This debate is silly and useless, either lift Wright or close Love Field down and move everything to DFW.
Quote:
AP
Justice Objects to Wright Amendment
Tuesday July 25, 3:44 pm ET
By Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press Writer
Justice Raising Questions About Wright Amendment, Memo Says
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An aviation agreement reached by Texas officials and two major airlines to eventually lift flight restrictions at Dallas Love Field airport would violate federal antitrust laws and should not be approved, the Justice Department said in a memo.
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The agency's antitrust division told lawmakers restrictions in the local agreement to repeal the Wright Amendment in eight years "would be hard-core, per se violations of the Sherman Act," according to a copy of the memo obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The agency's concerns refer to an agreement among Texas officials to eventually repeal the so-called Wright Amendment and legislation sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, containing the agreement.
Forged by officials from Dallas, Fort Worth, Southwest Airlines Co., American Airlines and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the compromise also calls for reducing gates at Love Field in Dallas from 32 to 20. Other airlines have objected to the gate reduction, saying it limits their ability to establish service there.
The 1979 law, named for its author, former House Speaker Jim Wright of Fort Worth, prohibits flights by aircraft with more than 56 seats between Dallas and any points outside Texas, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
A spokeswoman at the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment Tuesday. Hutchison declined to comment immediately.
The Justice Department said the gates to be torn down could be used by other airlines to enter and compete there. Razing them "is the very kind of collusive output reduction that the antitrust laws are designed to prevent."
The department said the parties to the local agreement are aware of the antitrust violations because they have sought blanket immunity for the agreement, instead of including an "antitrust savings clause," which the agency said is commonly done to preserve competition under antitrust laws.
American Airlines, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., disputes the Justice Department's view of the antitrust implications, a spokesman said.
"We simply disagree with the conclusions of the Justice Department, and we believe that so do the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth and the North Texas congressional delegation," said American spokesman Tim Wagner.
Officials with Southwest and the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth did not immediately return calls for comment.
Southwest is limited to 16 gates in the deal, which the Justice Department said is a hard cap on Southwest service from Dallas for more than eight years and would not allow Southwest to expand its operations once the Wright Amendment is lifted without leaving cities it now serves or facing penalties for starting up service at another Dallas area airport.
Associated Press Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.
