Dallas Love Field - A Brief History

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1928

City of Dallas buys Love Field

1962

Civil Aviation Board declares that the Dallas-Ft Worth region required a new airport facility

1964

Civil Aviation Board ruled all current airlines serving Love and Amon Carter would be required to move to a new regional airport facility. 

1965

Dallas and Ft Worth agree to build a regional airport facility.

1970

Southwest Airlines begins operations out of Love Field 

1973

Dallas, Ft Worth, DFW sue Southwest Airlines claiming Southwest would be in violation of a 1964 CAB ruling which require all Love Field airlines move to DFW.

1978

Congress Enacts the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA)

1978

Southwest "quickly" adds interstate routes to its flight schedule. 

1979

The Wright Amendment restricted any carrier operating out of Love Field to either intrastateflights or interstate flights to one of the four states that share a contiguous border with Texas

1997

Based on an initial request from Legend Airlines to the Department of Commerce Congress passed the Shelby Amendment which was applied as an exception to the Wright Amendment in that it defined aircraft by a weight measurement vs passenger capacity and added three states that could be serviced from Love Field

2004

Southwest Airlines begins a media blitz the goal of which was to push Congress into repealing the Wright Amendment. Threatens to move corporate from Dallas if it does not get what it wants. 

2006

Dallas, Fort-Worth, DFW, Southwest, and American convened to craft an amicable resolution to a  quarter century of restrictions at Love Field. (The Party of Five Agreement)

2006

Dallas, Fort Worth, DFW, Southwest, and American present the Five Party Agreement to Congress in June 2006

2006

Incorporating The Party of Five Agreement points Congress passes the Wright Amendment Repeal Act, (WARA) and repeals the Wright Amendment on October 13.

2006

Gate Lease Management at Love Field per WARA  Federal Law 109-352 

2009

Delta subleases partial use of American’s two gates to begin service from Love Field.

2014

October: Love flight restrictions as defined by WARA Federal Law 109-352 expire. The components of The Party of Five Agreement did not expire

2014

October: Delta subleases from American expire.  American divested the two gates Delta was subleasing to Virgin America.

2014

Southwest multiple times, as well as all other Love Gate lessee airlines when contacted ignore Delta's request as well as the City of Dallas request authority under WARA Law 109-352, as well as their commitments under The Party of Five Agreement regarding request such as Delta's be granted gate space in order to serve Love Field

2014-2015

City of Dallas twice requests guidance from the Department of Transportation (DOT) regarding Southwest Airlines, et al refusal to follow the voluntary gate sharing agreement which is contained in The Party of Five Agreement. Twice DOT responded that The City of Dallas had to properly respond to Delta's request for gate space. 

2015

July 6 --Dallas files suit for declaratory relief in federal court in the Northern District of Texas. Dallas, Delta and Southwest file cross motions against each other.  Judge refers to the case as, "tell me what to do" litigation. 

2016

January -- Judge Kinkeade granted Delta’s motion and allowed Delta to continue flying from Love Field, for now.

2016 - Present

Multiple articles and media reports regarding the increase in aircraft noise since the repeal of the Wright Amendment, and despite the continuing presence of WARA Law 109-352 of which The City of Dallas and Dallas Airport Authority had direct involvement in creating, agreeing to, and submitting to Congress with the intent of it becoming federal law.