Wright’s wings terminal; Love changes the DFW game

DALLAS – The restrictions of the Wright Amendment have expired, freeing Dallas Love Field to launch nonstop flights from coast to coast for the first time.

The historic undoing of the 1980 law designed to protect the region’s economic propeller — Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport — should result in a revenue windfall for one of two major airlines headquartered in North Texas. For the other, the impact is being described as immaterial.

The clear winner is Southwest Airlines, which will add about 30 flights a day by the end of the year and the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue, said Andrew Davis, an airline analyst with T. Rowe Price.

For its bigger crosstown rival, American Airlines, now stronger than ever after its merger with US Airways and fresh off a record $1.5 billion quarterly profit, the increased competition is being described as negligible.

An ancillary winner is likely to be Virgin America, which has vacated its gate in Terminal E at DFW Airport and has begun service out of two gates at Love Field.

Virgin acquired the space at Love Field when American had to divest itself of the gates in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that allowed American to complete its recent merger with US Airways.

The 20-gate terminal is brand new at Dallas Love Field. The airport just finished a $519 million makeover that includes a new baggage pickup wing and lobby. What remains of the old concourse and terminal, which date back to the 1960s and 1970s, will be demolished.