Will Start DAL Operations In March 2006
American Airlines has
announced its plans for Dallas's Love Field, matching Southwest
Airlines' service from the airport to St. Louis and Kansas City, as
well as adding two intrastate flights to San Antonio and
Austin.
The move, which was previously reported in
Aero-News, comes at the expense of several routes
American previously flew out of its hub at Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport. Equipment and staff shortages are forcing
the world's largest airline to shift aircraft from DFW. American
has eliminated nonstop service to several cities, including Long
Beach, CA, Providence, RI, and Toledo, OH. An international route
was also affected, as the carrier pulled its daily flight to
Lima, Peru.
While American hopes the move will allow the airline to better
compete with popular LCC Southwest, no one at the Ft. Worth-based
carrier was particularly happy with the decision.
"It's bad for American Airlines, it's bad for our people and
it's bad for the people who live around Love Field," said
American's Executive VP of Marketing Dan Garton to the DMN. "But
we've said all along that this is absolutely essential for us to do
to remain competitive."
In order to match Southwest's new routes into Missouri -- which
were announced the very moment Wright Amendment restrictions to
Show Me State were lifted through a provision attached to a
Congressional spending bill -- American has shifted four daily
flights to St. Louis and three to Kansas City from DFW to Love
Field, according to the Dallas Morning News. One flight to STL and
two to KC were eliminated by the move.
American's flights into
Missouri, which the carrier says will begin in March 2006, will
also irk neighbors of the downtown Dallas airport -- which is
surrounded by residential areas to the north and west. In addition
to the increased amount of traffic (from both Southwest and AA
aircraft) American's older MD-83s (file photo, right) are louder
than Southwest's newer 737s.
"This is not something we look forward to doing," said Garton.
"We're not driving this -- we are responding to [Southwest]."
Even with more planes flying from Love Field, however, the North
Dallas Chamber of Commerce told representatives of the Love Field
Citizen's Action Committee the number of daily departures comes no
where close to the maximum of 250, as was previously set by the
master plan designed to limit growth at Love.
Meanwhile, Southwest continues with its efforts to lift the
Wright Amendment entirely, which would allow the carrier to fly
nonstop to any destination from Love Field -- limited only by
economics and the range of a 737. American's decision won't affect
that effort, said Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart.
"They're just another competitor," said Stewart, adding
American's movement of aircraft "just seemed like they were
repositioning their aircraft the way they always do."