But FAA Approval Needed Before It Goes Into Effect

It's in the FAA's hand now. Yes, we shudder a little at that statement, too... but there's little reason for the agency to put a stop to a landmark agreement calling for an end to the Wright Amendment in North Texas.

Two weeks after the bill received congressional approval, President Bush signed the agreement into law Friday. The deal calls for an end to all Wright Amendment restrictions on flights from Love Field in Dallas in 2014.

Until then, carriers flying from the downtown Dallas airport -- most notably Southwest Airlines, which is based at Love -- will be allowed to sell "through-tickets" to destinations beyond the eight-state perimeter currently enforced under the 27-year-old Wright Amendment.

With those tickets, passengers won't have to get onboard a second aircraft to travel from, say, Dallas to Las Vegas... although their plane WILL have to stop in a Wright state first.

"We have to view Dallas with all new eyes," said Southwest spokeswoman Beth Harbin. "We'll be treating it like a new city. We don't know what the demand is going to look like without the Wright Amendment."

The compromise agreement -- announced in June, and sponsored by Southwest, American, executives at DFW Airport, and officials with both Dallas and Fort Worth -- also caps the maximum number of gates at Love to 20, with Southwest controlling 16 of those.

"It has been a long process, but North Texas consumers will benefit from more competition and significantly reduced airfares," US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who sponsored the bill, said in a news release.

Everyone is speaking as though the agreement has already begun... but final approval for the deal rests with the FAA, which has to review whether the increased traffic likely to come from the deal will cause any safety issues.

Fortunately for proponents of the agreement, the FAA has already testified before Congress that any new operations at Love can be handled without a problem... so it's likely the agreement will become reality before very much longer.

FMI: www.house.gov, www.senate.gov, www.aa.com, www.southwest.com, www.fortworthgov.org, www.dallascityhall.com