What is the Wright Amendment and why are some people in Dallas upset about Southwest Airlines?

Answer 1

Let me try to summerize

In the early 1960's, it was determined that the Dallas - Fort Worth area needed to build a large airport, centralized to both cities - to support future growth of the area.

Both cities basically agreed, that their existing airports would not compete with this new airport.
The exsisting airlines signed agreements that they would move to this new airport, and gave significant amounts of money to its developement.

However - Southwest Airline did not exist at this time. So they did not sign any agreement. In 1971, Southwest moves into Love Field.
Upon completion of DFW Airport in 1974 - all the airlines comply with their commitment to move their operations to it.
EXCEPT - Southwest, who basically said "Hey, we did not sign any agreement to move out there - so we're staying here".
This gave Southwest a monopoly on patrons of Love Field.

After dragging through litigation all the way to the Supreme Court - Southwest did not have to move.
So, Rep. Wright of Ft. Worth, proposed the amendment that restricted Southwest's flight itineraries out of Love Field - to Texas and surrounding states. This passed - allowing DFW airport to be more competitive - for fear that this huge new airport would be hurt finacially - if Southwest were not restricted.

Now move up to the present.
Most people don't care about what happened in the past (fair or unfair) they just want cheap flights, and not be restricted by this amendment. And of course Southwest is dying to have it repealed, so they can expand service and make more money.

So -- those people that are upset about Southwest Airline, are only looking at the history, and that Southwest caused this problem themself, by not moving to DFW.

Hope this explains it.

Answer 2

The Wright Amendment of 1979 is a federal law governing traffic at Dallas's Love Field airport. It originally limited most nonstop flights to destinations within Texas and neighboring states. The limits were expanded in 1997 and 2005, and a law repealing the amendment was enacted in October 2006. That law eliminates some of the restrictions and leaves others intact until 2014.

In late 2004, Southwest Airlines announced its opposition to the Wright Amendment. Shortly thereafter, the company began trying to garner public support for the repeal of the Wright Amendment by launching a massive public relations campaign. Print media, the Internet, billboards, and TV spots were all used, directing the viewer or reader to visit the Set Love Free website, created by Southwest Airlines. In response, a group opposed to the repeal of the amendment, spearheaded by the DFW Airport Board and American Airlines, launched their own media campaign directing visitors to their Keep DFW Strong site (DFW Airport has even painted advertising on one of its water tanks on the north side of DFW).

Critics of the amendment assert that the restrictions on long-haul travel from Dallas Love Field are anti-competitive. They ask for the "freedom to fly" from Love Field to any destination. They also argue that the restrictions on full use of Love Field artificially inflates fares at the DFW Airport. They believe that eliminating the amendment, and thus allowing any airline to fly long-haul service out of DAL, would allow the so-called "Southwest Effect" to occur, where new, inexpensive capacity will increase traffic at both airports (assuming that the market effect of low fares on flights into and out of Love Field will serve to drive down fares on corresponding routes at DFW); these projections are based upon historic results in other air travel markets in which low-fare carriers, most frequently, Southwest, have initiated service. Wright opponents also argue that DFW's main tenant, American Airlines, can charge high prices out of DFW because, with AA controlling in excess of 80% of air carrier traffic at DFW, there is little competition on most routes, a problem which has recently been attributed to Delta Airlines discontinuing its usage of DFW as a hub.

Supporters of the amendment say that DFW Airport is the economic engine of the metroplex area, and do not wish for a competing airport to either take traffic from DFW or drive the prices down there, although they do concede that American's fares are often higher than from other airports. What's more, DFW Airport recently completed construction of a $2.5-billion people mover system to transport passengers between terminal buildings. DFW Airport is concerned that the financial burdens caused by such things as the people mover project and the recent pull down of Delta Air Lines' hub will hamper airport profitability and sustainability if a direct competitor to DFW is introduced into the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. A primary concern of many in the DFW area is that American is the largest employer in the North Texas area and many people associated with DFW and American Airlines are reluctant to put any jobs at risk, especially when considering the chronic financial difficulties that modern airlines face.