American Says Wright Repeal Would Be Double-Whammy for North Texas
Thursday May 26, 1:06 pm ET
FORT WORTH, Texas, May 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In response to Texas Representatives Jeb Hensarling and Sam Johnson declaring today their intention to sponsor legislation to repeal the Wright Amendment, American Airlines Executive Vice President Dan Garton said:
"This is a double-whammy for North Texas. If Southwest gets their way again, both the economy and the environment will surely suffer. First, repealing the Wright Amendment will be a setback to the region's growth. Second, the inevitable and dramatic rise in air traffic at Love Field will harm the environment in the neighborhoods around the airport. Make no mistake, the number of flights from Love Field will increase to levels never planned.
"This push by Southwest reflects the understandably selfish intentions of a company that today is roaming the halls of Congress seeking special favors. If Southwest were sincere about growing and competing, they would be flying from DFW Airport -- and they wouldn't need an act of Congress. We're confident the community will not let Southwest risk the quality of life for North Texans just to preserve and expand their monopoly at Love Field."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050526/dath061.html?.v=8
As others have posted, AA apparently only cares about the environmental impact of jets at DAL, not at DFW. 😛
Enough already about the need to dublicate the DFW hub at DAL (or move parts of it to DAL) if the WA is repealed. A few daily flights from DAL to LAX, LGA, ORD and a few other high yield destinations would work just fine. Frequent flyers are addicted to AAdvantage miles, which would keep most of the herd in line.