Southwest Airlines can expand long-range service from its Love Field headquarters here under an agreement that appears to resolve a bitter, years-long dispute over air service in northern Texas.
The nation's leading low-fare airline, Southwest claims the agreement between itself, rival American Airlines, and the mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth will increase competition, thereby forcing fares downward.
"The only surefire winner from this agreement is the public, the public citizen who will find it easier and far less expensive to travel to and from North Texas," said Herb Kelleher, the executive chairman of Southwest Airlines.
"Considering all the options, we believe this to be a pragmatic solution," said Gerard Arpey, American's chairman.
The two airlines and mayors agreed on proposed changes to federal laws that restrict air passenger service at Love Field to a nine-state region in the South and Southwest. The laws, primarily the Wright Amendment, work to the benefit of carriers at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where American dominates.
The agreement lifts restrictions on non-stop domestic service from Love Field but after eight years, which is a concession to American Airlines.
However, Southwest can issue so-called "through tickets" immediately upon the agreed changes taking effect. With a through ticket, a passenger who wants to fly beyond the nine-state region can buy a single ticket for flights that connect within the region. Now, Southwest passengers must buy two tickets for long-range trips in and out of Love Field and board twice, even if the connecting flight is on the same plane.
Southwest also has been prohibited from advertising routes between Love Field and destinations outside the designated region, like New York or Los Angeles. That would change under the proposed agreement.
In another concession to American Airlines, the agreement downsizes Love Field to 20 gates from the current 32 gates, thereby restricting Southwest's growth at its home airport. Southwest, which has fought to stay at Love Field since DFW opened in 1974, will have 16 of the 20 gates. The airline owns 21 gates at present but operates only 14 of them, according to Beth Harbin, a Southwest spokeswoman.
Southwest operates about 120 daily departure flights from Love Field. American operates about 850 from DFW.
The city councils of both cities must approve the agreement, as must Congress, before it can take effect. But that appears likely now that the major players have reached an accord.
In other Southwest news, the airline is testing assigned seating on selected flights departing from San Diego as an alternative to its longtime practice of open seating.
Passengers will not be allowed to request specific seats, according to Harbin. Rather, once passengers book a flight that is participating in the test, Southwest will notify them about 24 hours prior to departure to obtain seat assignments at the gate.
The test, which will last several weeks and involves varying boarding procedures, is designed to determine how much more time, if any, a plane must sit on the ground between flights as compared with Southwest's open-seating procedure. The airline has claimed that its boarding procedure is more efficient than assigned seating, reducing turnaround time for the aircraft and thus improving Southwest's bottom line.
At present, passengers obtain boarding passes that place them in one of three priority-seating groups on a first-come, first-served basis. Once on the plane, passengers are free to select any available seat.
Southwest's test program comes in response to the many airline passengers who prefer assigned seating. Any changes to Southwest's seating procedures would not occur until at least 2008, said Harbin.