Dornier328JET From United States of America, joined Sep 2006, 122 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (1 year 9 months 1 week 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 1391 times:
For a long time WN was limited at love by the Wright Amendment. It could only fly in Texas and within a perimeter. Now that that has been repealed, there is a gate limit at DAL which really limits what WN can do there.
bjorn14 From Norway, joined Feb 2010, 2776 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (1 year 9 months 1 week 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 1328 times:
Given the Wright Amendment there really was a limit to where WN could fly. The cities that could support/meet WN criteria where they don't fly are ICT, SHV, JAN, GPT, MGM, MOB. They did pull out of one Texas city...BPT
"An idea has to be incredibly absurd to have any reasonable chance of succeeding" --A. Einstein
DFWHeavy From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 464 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 9 months 1 week 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 1275 times:
Dornier328Jet,
The Wright Amendment has not actually been repealed yet and won't be for another few years. It was voted on to repeal it, but it's a gradual doing over the course of about 5 years.
Once it is actually fully repealed in 2014, you will see WN expand dramatically to new and different markets from there.
Gate space is not currently and issue for WN at DAL. I'm through there quite a bit and see many open gate throughout the day. They essentially have 16 gates and can run about 160 flights a day from what they have and they are not anywhere near the limit yet.
commavia From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 10188 posts, RR: 63 Reply 4, posted (1 year 9 months 1 week 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 1270 times:
The main reasons Southwest hasn't grown at Love is because they are capacity-constrained, and it's a fairly mature market. Even after the Wright restrictions are lifted in 2014, Southwest will still only be limited to 16 gates, and even if that restriction, too, were to go away, the reality is that between Love and D/FW, the Metroplex already has massive amounts of capacity to just about every major market in the United States.
Southwest will grow marginally at Love post-Wright, mainly by shifting more of the shorthaul flying to longer-haul flying (MDW, BWI, MCO, LAX, LAS, etc.), but I just don't think the market can really support vast amounts of new flying out of Love.
Plus - not to mention - much of the population growth in the Metroplex these days is occurring in areas that are either closer to D/FW, or basically equidistant to both, and thus indifferent (all else being equal, of course) on which airport they use. In fact - I would argue that long-term, D/FW is probably better positioned geographically to cater to the primary growth areas in the Metroplex than Love is.
IAHFLYR From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 4717 posts, RR: 26 Reply 5, posted (1 year 9 months 1 week 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 1234 times:
Quoting bjorn14 (Reply 2): They did pull out of one Texas city...BPT
They did that back in 1981, IIRC.
Any views shared are strictly my own and do not a represent those of any former employer.
william From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 1138 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (1 year 9 months 1 week 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 1217 times:
Quoting commavia (Reply 4): Plus - not to mention - much of the population growth in the Metroplex these days is occurring in areas that are either closer to D/FW, or basically equidistant to both, and thus indifferent (all else being equal, of course) on which airport they use. In fact - I would argue that long-term, D/FW is probably better positioned geographically to cater to the primary growth areas in the Metroplex than Love is.
So true, a point missed or not understood by many.
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