Delta wants to take over American Airlines’ gates at Love Field Airport in the worst way.  They say they can run 18 flights a day to major Delta hubs and put operations in place quickly to do so.  Delta argues that it can provide very real, substantive competition at the airport.

Southwest, of course, wants the gates as well.

No doubt others will throw their hats into the ring too.

In less than a year, airlines will be able to operate unrestricted domestic flights from Dallas Love Field to anywhere in the continental United States.  That’s a big market for Dallas suddenly.

But the DoJ wants to foster LCC participation in these give ups and that would preclude Delta (and Southwest, in my opinion) as well as other “legacy” carriers from obtaining those gates.

This is why I think that any airline who has less than 20 percent market participation at an airport ought to be able to have a chance to acquire those gates at Love Field and elsewhere.  It invites the most qualified new entrant.

What Dallas doesn’t need is a ULCC carrier flying into Love Field airport a couple of times a day.  What Dallas *does* need is real competition which an airline such as Delta could provide in very real terms today.

That’s very attractive to me, a person who lives in Dallas.  This city doesn’t have much competition.  It has American Airlines who dominates DFW in a way that dwarfs the dominance at Washington Reagan National that US Airways enjoys.  It has Southwest who dominates Love Field in an even greater way.

So, yeah, real competition from a real, national network airline who can offer real price competition is an attractive idea.

So, let’s not preclude “legacy” airlines.

Filed under: Airline News, Airports, Mergers and Bankruptcy by ajax
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