Delta gets jump on competition with post Wright Amendment expiration service from Love Field (Dallas: fit in)

[JimBaker488]

Delta Airlines has begun selling tickets on long-distance flights out of Dallas Love Field beginning next October, the month in which restrictions under the Wright Amendment end.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Delta (NYSE: DAL) is booking seats on 22 flights out of Love Field to a number of its hub cities, with flights beginning on Oct. 13, 2014.
That's the day that flight restrictions imposed by the Wright Amendment expire.
Delta said it doesn't have all the gates it needs to offer the flights, but that it is working to secure gates at Love Field to handle the load.
Atlanta-based Delta and Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) both have said they are interested in acquiring two gates at Love Field that American Airlines has agreed to give up.

Delta booking Love Field flights for day Wright Amendment expires - Dallas Business Journal
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I dunno, but the ATL-based carrier seems awfully confidant it's going to get those gates ? But is this a
PR coup for Delta at Southwest's expense ?

[theloneranger]

I wonder if JetBlue is planning on bidding for the gates as an addition to or replacement for DFW. They didn't originally want to fly from DFW but I guess the Dallas market was too big for them to miss out on.

[JimBaker488]

In early December, Delta Air Lines began selling flights out of Dallas Love Field to a number of its hubs, with the flights to begin in October 2014.
To our knowledge, Delta has not yet been allowed to acquire the two gates that American Airlines is giving up at Love Field. But Atlanta-based Delta went ahead and put the flights on its schedule.

Here’s its schedule:

– Six nonstops to Atlanta, all on its own metal;

– Three nonstops to Detroit, all on regional carrier Endeavor Air, which Delta owns

– Three nonstops to Minneapolis-St. Paul on Endeavor Air;

– Five nonstops to New York LaGuardia, all on partner Shuttle America;

– Five nonstops to Los Angeles, all on partner Compass Airlines.

That’s 22 flights out of two gates, with most operated by regional partners.

The Wright amendment goes away on Oct. 13, 2014. After that date, carriers can operate nonstop service to any city on the United States, not just that short list of states that the Wright amendment allows.

Southwest Airlines, which gets 16 of the 20 gates in the new Love Field terminal, wants the two that American is giving up as part of a lawsuit settlement. Others may want them as well, but haven’t stepped forward publicly to request them.

As a side note, the Delta flights to Atlanta are scheduled to use the Boeing 717s that Delta is getting from Southwest Airlines. Southwest picked them up in its merger with AirTran Airways, then decided the aircraft didn’t fit into Southwest’s plans.

Delta to offer a lot of flights out of Dallas Love Field beginning next October | Dallas Morning News
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Another source questioning the move by Delta to market tickets before they've actually secured gates for said flights. Dunno, maybe it's a tactic to gain leverage in a PR battle for love Field access ?

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

I don't know the answer to your question, but it's great to see! It would defeat the purpose of the lawsuit's forced divestiture of the gates, for the already-dominant carrier at DAL to get them IMO. Southwest will have all the gates it can use with the 16 they will have - heck, there's still a cap on the number of flights from DAL and hours they can operate, even after the WA sunsets.