Airport Cities

[MidtownCoog]

Another one is the old part of St. Louis.

Old school! The enclosed glass smoking rooms were awesome.

[Dallasboi]

wow!!!

[TxDave]

A couple of months ago the Wright amendment was updated to allow flights to Missouri. So Southwest has added flights from Love to St Louis and Kansas City. This has quieted the Wright Amendment debate for the time being.

Meanwhile, American has declared that they will compete, and will now aggressively offer flights from Love to St Louis, Kansas City, Austin, and San Antonio (beginning in March, I think)

Love Field is a little different from Hobby in that it is on the same side of town (Dallas) as DFW (Northwest side), as opposed to Houston where Hobby and IAH are on opposite sides, serving more people.

Love is closest to downtown and Dallas' most affluent areas of the Park Cities and Preston Hollow. However most of Dallas' fastest growing suburbs are closer to and have easier access to DFW.

American claims that their best customers live closer to Love Field, and if the airport is opened to long haul flights, they will have to be there to compete. They further state (threaten) that they will be forced to move flights from DFW to Love - weakening their hub at DFW and, thus, the Dallas/Fort Worth region in general.

I do not necessarily buy into all of this. I agree that AA's best customers are probably closer to Love, but I also believe that those people are the best customers because they are the ones who will purchase last minute full fares and full price seats in first class - they are very wealthy.

These people are not likely to fly on Southwest's "cattle car" flights - no matter how much closer the airport is. They want the service and will continue to go slightly further to DFW to get it.

Meanwhile, many of the professionals who must fly for business are locating further and further north in suburbs that are closer to and have easier access to DFW than Love Field. I honestly believe that DFW is the better positioned airport now and will be especially the future.

In my opinion I would like to see Love grow with less restrictions, but only as a limited regional airport. I am a little biased since I live in the Love Field flight path (as do many of Uptown Dallas' residents). The current level of activity does not bother me, and seems to be a good balance. I would hate to see some of Dallas' best upcoming neighborhoods deteriorate due to too much flight activity.

It will be interesting to watch this play out over time.

[skwatra]

I do not necessarily buy into all of this. I agree that AA's best customers are probably closer to Love, but I also believe that those people are the best customers because they are the ones who will purchase last minute full fares and full price seats in first class - they are very wealthy.

These people are not likely to fly on Southwest's "cattle car" flights - no matter how much closer the airport is. They want the service and will continue to go slightly further to DFW to get it.

agreed. every single person i work with in Clear Lake goes all the way to IAH to fly Continental, when Hobby is 1/3 the distance. we mostly fly out to LAX and MCO, Southwest offers plenty of direct flights from HOU but they refuse to ride like cattle. i don't mind it, i get free tickets much faster on SW and hate driving all the way to IAH - that's an extra hour of my time.

it was much nicer when Cont flew out of EFD. when they announced they were cancelling that service, many wrote letters saying they were willing to pay a lot more for that flight, since it was on the company anyways.