AA announces Love Field flights

[MiAAmi]

Press Release Source: American Airlines, Inc.


American and American Eagle Will Launch Dallas Love Field Service on March 2 With 16 Flights a Day
Tuesday December 13, 11:53 am ET
American Will Serve Love Field to St. Louis and Kansas City; American Eagle Will Operate From Love Field to San Antonio and Austin


FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Airlines announced today that it and its regional affiliate, American Eagle, will begin service at Dallas Love Field on March 2, 2006, with a total of 16 flights a day

American will operate four flights a day between Love Field and St. Louis, and three flights daily on the Love Field-Kansas City route, with 136-seat MD80 jets featuring first-class as well as coach service. American Eagle will fly four times a day between Love Field and San Antonio, Tex., and five times a day between Love and Austin, Tex., using 50-seat Embraer 145 Regional-Jet aircraft.

"We have not, and will not, abandon our efforts in support of the Wright Amendment and all those in North Texas who want to keep DFW International Airport strong, vibrant and growing," said Dan Garton, American's Executive Vice President of Marketing. "DFW is the region's greatest economic engine and was always intended to be the home for all commercial air service in Dallas/Fort Worth. American remains intensely devoted to that principle. However, we have made it clear for many years that if Love Field were opened to longer-haul service, American must compete at Love Field in order to retain the large number of American Airlines customers who live closer to Love Field than to DFW."

Garton said American and American Eagle will be devoting substantial energy over the next three months to providing a solid, professional customer experience at Love Field.

American, which owns the rights to three gates at Love Field, will require two gates for the March 2 schedule, one for American and the other for American Eagle. The airline is working with airport officials on arrangements for ticket counters and other facilities with which to service its customers efficiently. The airline said it and American Eagle will be ready to open at Love Field on March 2 and will provide more details about its facilities there in coming weeks.

Here are American's and American Eagle's Love Field schedules, effective March 2:


AMERICAN AIRLINES

From Love Field to St. Louis (MD80s)

Flight 2500 Departs 6:30 a.m. Arrives 8:08 a.m. (except Sat.)
Flight 2502 Departs 9:22 a.m. Arrives 10:57 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 2504 Departs 1:53 p.m. Arrives 3:29 p.m. (daily)
Flight 2506 Departs 6:28 p.m. Arrives 8:04 p.m. (except Sat.)

From St. Louis to Love Field (MD80s)

Flight 2501 Departs 7:00 a.m. Arrives 8:47 a.m. (except Sat and
Sun.)
Flight 2503 Departs 11:32 a.m. Arrives 1:18 p.m. (daily)
Flight 2505 Departs 4:04 p.m. Arrives 5:53 p.m. (except Sat.)
Flight 2507 Departs 5:30 p.m. Arrives 7:17 p.m. (except Sat.)

From Love Field to Kansas City (MD80s)

Flight 2508 Departs 8:00 a.m. Arrives 9:25 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 2510 Departs 12:17 p.m. Arrives 1:42 p.m. (daily)
Flight 2512 Departs 4:35 p.m. Arrives 6:01 p.m. (except Sat.)

From Kansas City to Love Field (MD80s)

Flight 2509 Departs 10:07 a.m. Arrives 11:42 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 2511 Departs 2:24 p.m. Arrives 4:00 p.m. (daily)
Flight 2513 Departs 6:43 p.m. Arrives 8:19 p.m. (except Sat.)


AMERICAN EAGLE

From Love Field to San Antonio (Embraer 145 RJs)

Flight 3354 Departs 7:30 a.m. Arrives 8:34 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 3375 Departs 10:22 a.m. Arrives 11:24 a.m. (daily)
Flight 3401 Departs 2:23 p.m. Arrives 3:25 p.m. (daily)
Flight 3426 Departs 5:30 p.m. Arrives 6:32 p.m. (except Sat.)

From San Antonio to Love Field (Embraer 145 RJs)

Flight 3355 Departs 8:59 a.m. Arrives 9:57 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 3400 Departs 11:49 a.m. Arrives 12:48 p.m. (Sat. only)
Flight 3400 Departs 1:02 p.m. Arrives 1:58 p.m. (except Sat.)
Flight 3413 Departs 4:04 p.m. Arrives 5:05 p.m. (daily)
Flight 3427 Departs 7:49 p.m. Arrives 8:49 p.m. (except Sat.)

From Love Field to Austin (Embraer 145 RJs)

Flight 3362 Departs 6:00 a.m. Arrives 6:52 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 3367 Departs 7:30 a.m. Arrives 8:23 a.m. (Sat. and Sun.
only)
Flight 3367 Departs 8:42 a.m. Arrives 9:35 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 3391 Departs 1:13 p.m. Arrives 2:05 p.m. (daily)
Flight 3412 Departs 3:49 p.m. Arrives 4:42 p.m. (except Sat.)
Flight 3444 Departs 6:58 p.m. Arrives 7:50 p.m. (except Sat.)

From Austin to Love Field (Embraer 145 RJs)

Flight 3366 Departs 7:23 a.m. Arrives 8:17 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 3374 Departs 9:02 a.m. Arrives 9:57 a.m. (Sat. and Sun.
only)
Flight 3374 Departs 10:00 a.m. Arrives 10:57 a.m. (except Sat. and
Sun.)
Flight 3503 Departs 2:30 p.m. Arrives 3:24 p.m. (daily)
Flight 3443 Departs 5:39 p.m. Arrives 6:33 p.m. (except Sat.)
Flight 3467 Departs 8:41 p.m. Arrives 9:37 p.m. (except Sat.)


AmericanAirlines® We know why you fly(SM)

 

[AirLUVer]

Stupid Stupid Stupid 80's to MO, how dumb can they be over there on Amon Carter. The least they should do is run the flights with EMB's to take advantage of fly through ticketing.

 

[corl737]

Stupid Stupid Stupid 80's to MO, how dumb can they be over there on Amon Carter. The least they should do is run the flights with EMB's to take advantage of fly through ticketing.

Welcome to Love Field and the idiocy of the Wright Amendment! You know that AAs advertising will be closely watched to see if AA inadvertently lets it be known that its passengers can travel past STL on its other flights? Recall this marketing restriction contained within the WA?

[...]
(1) such air carrier does not offer or provide any through service or ticketing with another air carrier or foreign air carrier, and (2) such air carrier does not offer for sale transportation to or from, and the flight or aircraft does not serve, any point which is outside any such State.
[...]
(Here's the link to the text of the entire Wright Amendment for those who haven't read the actual document.)

I wish AA well ... but not too well!

 

[formeraa]

Welcome to Love Field and the idiocy of the Wright Amendment! You know that AAs advertising will be closely watched to see if AA inadvertently lets it be known that its passengers can travel past STL on its other flights? Recall this marketing restriction contained within the WA?

I think that we all need to watch WN. It has a lot of people thinking that it always has the lowest fares. AA should start pointing out the many times WN has much higher fares than other airlines.

Don't worry. AA is not scheduling these flights to connect in what's left of its STL hub! :down:

 

[Ch. 12]

I think that we all need to watch WN. It has a lot of people thinking that it always has the lowest fares. AA should start pointing out the many times WN has much higher fares than other airlines.

Yes, yes...let's expose the great conspiracy and prove that WN is not a low fare carrier!! I don't think that I've EVER heard WN say that it "always" has the lowest fares but it definitely has a lower fare structure...that much is fact. Look at a non-WN market and one that WN enters. Fares go down.

 

[TWAnr]

The cutbacks:

“The shift of American flights to Love Field will eliminate North Texas service to five domestic cities: Long Beach, Calif.; Providence, R.I.; Green Bay, Wis.; Toledo, Ohio; and Rochester, Minn. The shift will also eliminate North Texas service to a vital Latin American market, Lima, Peru. It will also mean reduced service to key Texas cities including Austin, San Antonio, College Station and Tyler, as well as fewer flights to St. Louis, Mo., Kansas City, Mo. and Cincinnati, Ohio.

“In total, American Airlines will cut or eliminate service to 13 destinations. And travelers will have 31 less flights to choose from at DFW.

STATEMENT FROM DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

 

[corl737]

The shift of American flights to Love Field will eliminate North Texas service to five domestic cities: Long Beach, Calif.; Providence, R.I.; Green Bay, Wis.; Toledo, Ohio; and Rochester, Minn. The shift will also eliminate North Texas service to a vital Latin American market, Lima, Peru. It will also mean reduced service to key Texas cities including Austin, San Antonio, College Station and Tyler, as well as fewer flights to St. Louis, Mo., Kansas City, Mo. and Cincinnati, Ohio.

No disrespect to the AA crowd because I am truly puzzled by the magnitude of this announcement. I'm trying to rationalize how SWA's DAL-MCI flights caused the termination of AA's flights to Lima, Peru, especially if it's the "vital" market that the press release says!

Is AA simply timing its announcement of previously planned flight reductions to coincide with the Love Field service in an effort to make the first chink in the Wright Amendment appear as disastrous as possible? Afterall, it seems logical that if AA can make their doomsday scenario play out (and they hold all the cards in their hands) they'll have more fodder for deterring any further weakening of the Wright Amendment restrictions.

I'm really puzzled. Perhaps someone at AA can enlighten me?

 

[Skymess]

No disrespect to the AA crowd because I am truly puzzled by the magnitude of this announcement. I'm trying to rationalize how SWA's DAL-MCI flights caused the termination of AA's flights to Lima, Peru, especially if it's the "vital" market that the press release says!

Is AA simply timing its announcement of previously planned flight reductions to coincide with the Love Field service in an effort to make the first chink in the Wright Amendment appear as disastrous as possible? Afterall, it seems logical that if AA can make their doomsday scenario play out (and they hold all the cards in their hands) they'll have more fodder for deterring any further weakening of the Wright Amendment restrictions.

I'm really puzzled. Perhaps someone at AA can enlighten me?

It's all spin. AA is the king of spin.

The routes probably don't generate that much cash, they do want to make it seem disastrous, and they have to get the airplanes from somewhere.

I can't imagine how irritating it is to be based in Dallas and now have to worry about flying out of another airport. Though not nearly as annoying as having to fly out of Sewark.(ewr) The perfect abbreviation ewwww.

 

[SegmentKing]

didn't American already try intra-state out of DAL a few years ago? For some reason AUS and SAT ring a bell with EMB 145s or MD 80s...

*scratches head*

I can understand it if AA just came out and said "We realize that many travelers prefer Love Field over DFW and we plan on offering limited services to those loyal to American and the OneWorld alliance".

*continues to scratch head*

I mean that last statement would be a much better PR spin than "oh, because of Southwest, we're cutting a few flights to Tyler and San Angelo, which weren't performing as well anyway".

 

[dfw79]

Fascinating how TOL gets the axe...after the route has been suspended until Jan 10th due to poor performance thanks to the crap schedule the gave the route. They had a better one ready to go...but obviously no more.

Again...its all spin.

 

[CruelSummer]

No disrespect to the AA crowd because I am truly puzzled by the magnitude of this announcement. I'm trying to rationalize how SWA's DAL-MCI flights caused the termination of AA's flights to Lima, Peru, especially if it's the "vital" market that the press release says!

Is AA simply timing its announcement of previously planned flight reductions to coincide with the Love Field service in an effort to make the first chink in the Wright Amendment appear as disastrous as possible? Afterall, it seems logical that if AA can make their doomsday scenario play out (and they hold all the cards in their hands) they'll have more fodder for deterring any further weakening of the Wright Amendment restrictions.

I'm really puzzled. Perhaps someone at AA can enlighten me?

Can't speak for AA but I've always read that shifting US flights away from DFW would hurt international ones...maybe this is the first? Or it could just be a timing thing...hard to know. One thing that is certain is that this will be interesting to watch.

 

[corl737]

At least one Airline Analyst is skeptical of AA's packaging of the announcements:

Michael Boyd, an airline consultant with Denver-based The Boyd Group, tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he thinks AA is using the Wright Amendment spat (more details below) as an excuse to cut underperforming flights. "Long Beach is a dog," he says, adding that those flights were only about 60% full. "They should have pulled out of it anyway." As for dropping Lima, Boyd says "(t)o blame that on putting a couple MD-80s into Missouri just stretches their credibility."

(Source: USAToday.com's "Today in the Sky" column titled AA's DFW flight cuts came from carrier's weakest routes.)

It made sense when AA said they would reduce DFW service to STL, MCI, SAT, and AUS because those flights were going to be split between DFW and DAL. Still, the zero-sum maneuver (example: lose 16 at DFW to start 16 at Love) doesn't seem to provide justification for dropping Toledo, Rochester, or Lima.

I could see logic in the cuts to non-Love cities if DAL was significantly farther from these destinations than DFW. A case could be made for dropping those places if it would have been impossible to maintain the current schedule given the longer flight times from the new Love service. Alas, this isn't even fathomable.

 

[eolesen]

Before y'all get your panties in a wad, DFW is the one making the claim that all these cuts were due to moving flights over to DAL. That's hardly the case, so don't blame AA for DFW's assinine assumptions.

In the letter sent from AA to DFW announcing the cuts (and posted on the AA employee website), it was a lot clearer that while some of the cuts were to fund aircraft to serve DAL, the cuts to LGB, LIM, GRB, TOL, etc. were based on their own economics.

AA can't help it that DFW (and others like Boyd) chose to spin this the way they did, although I think it would have been a lot less confusing if the market cuts had been announced -after- the DAL schedules had been announced.

 

[corl737]

Before y'all get your panties in a wad, DFW is the one making the claim that all these cuts were due to moving flights over to DAL. That's hardly the case, so don't blame AA for DFW's assinine assumptions.

In the letter sent from AA to DFW announcing the cuts (and posted on the AA employee website), it was a lot clearer that while some of the cuts were to fund aircraft to serve DAL, the cuts to LGB, LIM, GRB, TOL, etc. were based on their own economics.

AA can't help it that DFW (and others like Boyd) chose to spin this the way they did, although I think it would have been a lot less confusing if the market cuts had been announced -after- the DAL schedules had been announced.

Thanks for the clarification. I went to AA's website and read the press release regarding the Love Field service. You're right, of course (!), that AA didn't mention any service cuts in that message.

AA's timing of the service cuts in a separate announcement certainly did confuse the issues.

 

[mrman]

So much for destroying DFW, flooding Love with flights, increase trafic on Mockingbird and all the other scare tacktics. AA is dropping Saint Louis and San Antonio service