Southwest Airlines on Sunday will begin non-stop service between Phoenix and Dallas Love Field, its home base.(Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)



14 LINKEDIN MORE

Phoenix travelers have a new non-stop flight option to Dallas — on an old, familiar carrier.


Southwest Airlines on Sunday will begin non-stop service between Phoenix and Dallas Love Field, its home base.


Southwest has offered flights between Phoenix and Dallas for several years, but all required a stop along the way because of a federal law called the Wright Amendment. The law, in place since 1980, restricted where Southwest could fly to from Dallas, mostly a cluster of nearby states.


The law expired on Oct. 13 and Southwest officials have not been able to contain their glee, splashing "Goodbye Wright Amendment, Hello America" on southwest.com and elsewhere. The airline will go from having 16 non-stop destinations from Dallas to 31, including Phoenix and seven other cities being added Sunday. San Francisco and Oakland are next, in January.


"We're talking about one of the biggest ramp-ups in the history of the airline," said Dave Harvey, senior director of network planning and performance.


Gary Kelly, the airline's chairman and CEO, told Wall Street analysts last week that the inaugural flights have been packed, with occupancy at 90 percent. Bookings look strong for flights from Phoenix and other new cities, too.


"I expect that they will do equally well," he said.


The airline, which will offer four daily non-stops from Phoenix to Dallas, has plenty of competition on the route. US Airways and American each offer several daily flights between Sky Harbor International Airport and Dallas' larger airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. No-frills Spirit Airlines started a red-eye flight from Sky Harbor to Dallas a year ago.


Dallas/Fort Worth is the seventh most popular destination from Sky Harbor, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, with 645,000 passengers in the year ended July 31, up from 575,000 in the same period a year earlier.


American Airlines President Scott Kirby last week acknowledged that the elimination of the Wright Amendment creates a headwind for the airline, which has a huge hub at DFW. Kirby touted American/US Airways' broader frequent-flier program, first-class cabins and more frequent flights.


"Even though it's early, we're off to a good start in that competition," he said.


Southwest bills Love Field as Dallas' convenient, close-in airport, especially for travelers headed downtown, about 5 miles away. DFW, more centrally located in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, is about 25 miles from downtown Dallas. Public transportation is available from both airports.


The big winners so far have been travelers. Southwest has sprinkled one-way fares as low as $49 and $59 on select non-stop flights to introduce the new service, and other airlines have matched.


"The fare environment is very attractive for the customer," Harvey said. "Now that you've got some healthy competition, fares are coming down at both DFW and Love Field."


He said Southwest, which has one of its busiest operations in Phoenix with about 170 daily departures, plans to stick with four daily round-trip flights to Dallas through early next year. Additional flights are possible after that if demand is strong.


"We are going to be watching key markets like Phoenix," he said. "I think that there's definitely head room for this nonstop market."


14 LINKEDIN MORE

Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1tGDhc3