Wright Amendment
The Wright Amendment of 1979 was a United States federal law that governed traffic at Dallas Love Field, an airport in Dallas, Texas, to protect Dallas Fort Worth International Airport from competition. The amendment—enacted in reaction to the refusal of Southwest Airlines to vacate Love Field and move to DFW—prohibited carriers from operating full-size airliners between Love Field and destinations beyond Texas and its four neighboring states. Further amendments in 1997 and 2005 added new states and relaxed aircraft rules for longer range service. The law was partially repealed in 2006 and then fully repealed in 2014.
Background
By the early 1960s, Love Field was reaching the limits of its terminal and parking capacity despite repeated expansion projects, and its runways were too short to accommodate new intercontinental jets. Greater Southwest International Airport had been constructed in Fort Worth in the 1950s, but efforts to share the new airport had proven unsuccessful due to the entrenched rivalry between the two cities. The situation was inefficient and hampered airline service to both cities, and in 1964, the Civil Aeronautics Board ordered Dallas and Fort Worth to find a site for a new joint regional airport. However, many Dallas residents remained satisfied with Love Field, and an attempt to establish an independent Dallas Fort Worth Regional Airport Authority—despite strong backing from the Dallas Chamber of Commerce and Dallas mayor J. Erik Jonsson—failed when Dallas voters rejected the proposal by a narrow margin. After further negotiation, the cities instead established an appointed airport board consisting of seven members from Dallas and four from Fort Worth, and were able to persuade all eight existing air carriers at Love and GSW to move to the new regional airport.To protect the regional airport from competition and thereby protect bond investments, the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth signed the Regional Airport Concurrent Bond Ordinance on 12 November 1968, which reads in part:
This effort culminated in the closure and ultimate demolition of GSW, the 1974 opening of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the closure of Love Field to certified air carriers, and a corresponding effort to redevelop Love to be used primarily for corporate aviation.
Southwest Airlines was founded after the 1968 agreement between the airlines and cities to relocate to DFW; it was not a party to the agreement and felt that its business model, which emphasized convenience, would be hindered by a long drive to the new airport. Before DFW's opening, Southwest filed suit to remain at Love Field, claiming that no legal basis existed to close the airport to commercial service and that it was not bound by an agreement it did not sign. In 1971, Southwest obtained an operating certificate from the Texas Aeronautics Commission for intrastate flights, claiming that the CAB had no authority over flights that did not cross state borders; however, Southwest was quickly sued by Dallas, Fort Worth, and the DFW Airport Board, who contested this assertion, claiming that the 1964 CAB ruling also applied to the new carrier. In 1973, a federal district court ruled that Southwest's proposed intrastate service fell outside of CAB jurisdiction, and so long as Love Field remained open, the City of Dallas could not preclude Southwest from operating there.
When DFW opened in 1974, every airline except Southwest moved to the new airport, drastically reducing commercial flights at Love Field.
Passage of the Wright Amendment
After the Airline Deregulation Act was enacted in 1978, Southwest Airlines announced plans to begin interstate service in 1979 with flights to New Orleans, a proposal that was quickly endorsed by the CAB. However, Texas officials—particularly those from Fort Worth—thought that increased traffic at Love Field could draw flights away from DFW Airport and threaten its financial stability. To protect the new airport, Jim Wright, member of the U.S. House of Representatives serving Fort Worth, sponsored and helped pass an amendment to the International Air Transportation Act of 1979 in Congress that restricted passenger air traffic at Love Field in the following ways:- Passenger service flown with larger mainline jet aircraft could be provided only to airports within Texas and its four neighboring U.S. states: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. At the time, all existing and planned Southwest Airlines routes were contained within this region, so the law had no immediate effect on Southwest.
- Flights to other states were allowed only on aircraft with 56 seats or fewer, in an attempt to prohibit mainline passenger service outside of the five-state region.
- Airlines could not offer connecting flights, through service on another airline, or through ticketing beyond the five-state region.
The through-ticketing and connecting flight restrictions in the law were not seriously explored until Continental Airlines proposed in 1985 to begin service between Love Field and Houston. Dallas, Fort Worth, and the D/FW Airport Board attempted to bar the airline from Love Field on the grounds that it offered interline through-ticketing, a service not offered by Southwest. However, the United States Department of Transportation decreed that an airline was merely disallowed from through-ticketing flight segments to or from Love Field. Additionally, the USDOT ruled that selling a passenger a separate ticket on a connecting flight at another airport—a practice known as double ticketing—was perfectly legal provided that the airline was not "advertising, promoting, or otherwise affirmatively soliciting double ticketing passengers." An airline was thus allowed to sell a connecting ticket provided that it was requested by the traveler rather than being solicited by the ticket agent. Following this ruling, a sophisticated Southwest passenger could work the system and get around the Wright Amendment's restrictions by flying from Dallas to another airport in the five-state region, changing planes, and then flying on a separate ticket to any city Southwest served.
Alterations and bypass efforts
1989 alteration proposal
The Wright Amendment became controversial in Dallas; some argued that it unfairly restricted airline competition by discouraging carriers other than Southwest from serving Love Field, while others supported it to mitigate jet noise and protect property values near the airport. By late 1989, Dallas City Council member Jerry Bartos emerged as a leader of the effort to repeal Wright, gaining the backing of mayor Annette Strauss, and Kansas U.S. House Rep. Dan Glickman sponsored a bill calling for the amendment's repeal. In September of that year, the Dallas City Council approved a compromise resolution calling for the amendment's four-state limit to be changed to a perimeter limit allowing direct flights to Denver and Nashville. By 1990, Southwest was supportive of the resolution, but it had galvanized opposition by local property owners, and DFW Airport supporters were alarmed by a declaration by American Airlines that it could cancel a proposed terminal project there and move many flights to Love. In early July, Texas members of the U.S. House Rules Committee blocked Glickman's bill, Strauss withdrew her support, and the City Council rescinded their 1989 vote.Legend Airlines and Shelby Amendment
In 1996, Dallas aviation company Dalfort Aviation announced the launch of Legend Airlines, a new air carrier that would operate long-range flights from Love Field using jets with 56 seats—the maximum number allowed for long-haul flights under Wright. The new airline would be headed by T. Allan McArtor and would use refurbished McDonnell Douglas DC-9s or Boeing 727s—aircraft that normally carried 90 or more passengers—with an all-first class configuration and the excess space used for cargo. McArtor and Dalfort chief executive Bruce Leadbetter claimed that buying new regional jets with 56 or fewer seats was too expensive and would not provide Dalfort with much-needed overhaul business. However, the USDOT general counsel ruled in September 1996 that the 56-seat restriction applied to the "designed capacity" of an airliner rather than to the number of seats actually installed, prompting Legend to seek a change in the law; Texas Rep. Joe Barton was soon calling for the U.S. House to address the 56-seat requirement.By July 1997, McArtor had enlisted the help of Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, who proposed to change to Wright restrictions to allow Legend to start service using the refurbished planes; however, he was opposed by Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. On 7 October 1997, despite fierce opposition from Hutchison and Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Shelby's efforts culminated in the passage of a Senate funding bill that included his amendment to allow unrestricted flights to Alabama, Kansas, and Mississippi and to allow nationwide flights using aircraft reconfigured with 56 seats. On 9 October 1997, the U.S. House overwhelmingly approved the transportation funding bill containing the Shelby Amendment, with President Bill Clinton expected to promptly sign it into law.
Legal actions
The passage of the Shelby Amendment prompted a flurry of lawsuits. Within a month, Fort Worth and Dallas had sued each other, with Fort Worth arguing for upholding the 1968 bond agreement and Dallas arguing that it could no longer be enforced. A few months later, American Airlines joined Fort Worth in suing Dallas, and McArtor accused American of masterminding Fort Worth's original lawsuit to attain American's goal of stopping Legend. By February 1998, Mesa Airlines, which had begun intrastate service from Meacham Field in May 1997, had joined Fort Worth, and Southwest Airlines joined the Dallas lawsuit at the behest of Legend.On 19 May 1998, Continental Airlines—a party to the original 1968 bond agreement—and its regional affiliate Continental Express sued both cities over their refusal to allow interstate service at Love Field using 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145s, which fit within the 56-seat restriction. The lawsuit argued that the cities no longer had the authority to block long-haul service that complied with federal law. This in turn prompted DFW Airport to preemptively sue American Airlines to prevent them from likewise operating from Love, even though the airline denied having plans to do so.
McArtor argued that Fort Worth was also violating the bond agreement by allowing Mesa and FedEx Express to operate from Meacham and the recently constructed Fort Worth Alliance Airport respectively. In October 1998, Legend sued Fort Worth, accusing the city of a "double standard" in its simultaneous support for Alliance and opposition to expansion at Love. However, State District Judge Bob McCoy dismissed the suit later that month on the grounds that Legend was not a party to the 1968 DFW bond agreement and thus lacked standing to sue.